The British Cleaning Council and members write monthly columns for both Cleaning and Maintenance and Tomorrow’s Cleaning. You can read recent columns below.
To read the columns as they originally appeared, please visit https://cleaningmag.com/columnists and https://www.tomorrowscleaning.com/back-issues
Research report reveals key industry facts and figures
By David Garcia, Chair of the British Cleaning Council. (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning)
I recently unveiled our latest research report, which reveals some fascinating facts about the cleaning, hygiene and waste industry.
I launched the 2026 report at the Manchester Cleaning Show, with the headline-grabbing news that the cleaning, hygiene and waste industry is now valued at almost £72bn, up from £67.7bn in 2022 (the figure has been revised since last year), thanks to steady growth.
The substantial amount that the sector contributes to the nation’s wealth maintains its position as one of the UK‘s top ten industries and an essential national industry. 
Our annual research report is full of revealing facts and figures like this about the industry, and we are pleased to be able to offer it free to anyone in the sector, on request.
A detailed and insightful document, it has become a key industry document since we first published the first edition nine years ago.
This year’s report also says the total number of individuals working in the cleaning, hygiene and waste industry is up slightly this year, from 1.49m to 1.51 million people, approximately five per cent of the UK workforce.
There were a reported 78,915 businesses operating in 2025, up from 77,535 businesses in 2024.
Other key statistics include the fact that close to 46 per cent of the industry turnover is from facilities management, with waste and resource management contributing 26 per cent, cleaning activities 18 per cent and landscape services almost 10 per cent.
The industry is quite competitive with many smaller businesses, says our report. Nearly five out of six (83 per cent) are micro businesses, employing less than 10 individuals and more than 99 per cent of businesses are private firms.
Strengths of the sector overall include the UK Cleaning Career Development Zone (www.ukcleaning.org.uk), which brings together information about cleaning industry training and development opportunities into one place for the first time, where it can be easily accessed online.
As the report notes, this is relevant to cleaning industry staff seeking to advance their career and will also help to make the sector a more attractive destination for newcomers, who will be able to see how to succeed in their careers more easily.
Another strength is the growing uptake of the Level 2 Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship. Of the apprentices that have successfully completed the program to date, 70 per cent have followed the commercial cleaning operative route, which was not previously available.
Challenges identified in the report include continued issues in recruitment, with the industry still recovering from the exodus of foreign nationals following COVID and Brexit, and an ageing workforce, with only 9 per cent of people working in the industry aged under 25 and 29 per cent aged over 55 years. Continuing to raise the profile of the industry is vital to attracting workers, the report notes.
The BCC is currently exploring different avenues for continuing to lobby the Government in a number of key areas, the report notes.
The report looks in detail at a wide range of topics such as workforce size and characteristics, working hours and pay, recruitment, health and safety and drivers of changes in the industry.
It examines the sector’s sub-industries in detail, featuring statistics such as turnover and number and growth rates of businesses before going on to take a closer look at various occupations in the sector, such as gardeners and landscape gardeners, pest control officers, window-cleaners and caretakers.
I commend the report to my industry colleagues and I urge you to contact us for a free copy, if it will be of use.
To order your digital copy of the BCC’s 2026 research report, please email compsec@britishcleaningcouncil.org.
What’s next for the UK cleaning industry?
By David Garcia, Chair of the British Cleaning Council. ( (This column first appeared in Cleaning and Maintenance).
As I write, the cleaning industry is still basking in the success of the Manchester Cleaning Show last month.
Over 2,000 visitors attended the event, which showcased the strength and vibrancy of the sector.
The UK’s cleaning and hygiene sector is bigger, more technologically sophisticated and more essential to the nation than ever – but it is also wrestling with key structural challenges.
The research we published at the Cleaning Show put the collective value of the UK cleaning, hygiene and waste industry at almost £72bn, maintaining its place among the country’s top ten industries. The sector now employs approximately 1.51 million people — around 5 per cent of the UK’s workforce — spanning nearly 79,000 businesses.
The industry’s recent growth reflects a rebound from the volatility of the Covid-19 era and an accelerating focus on hygiene, health and environmental standards across workplaces, public spaces and domestic markets.
As businesses reassessed operational priorities, cleaning services are shifting from being a back-office cost to a frontline risk-management function. Larger facilities and institutions have invested in advanced hygiene protocols and deep-clean programmes.
Alongside this, the sector’s entrepreneurial energy is evident in the boom in new businesses. The number of cleaning companies operating in the UK has soared from roughly 47,000 in 2013, with many micro and small enterprises capitalising on demand for niche and specialised services.
Beyond the industry’s sheer size, we have seen technology and sustainability continue to mature from buzzwords into business fundamentals. Automation, robots and co-bots are being deployed in ever larger numbers, often complementing staff to support improved standards.
Sustainability too has become an operational imperative. The pursuit of green credentials — from biodegradable products to low-water-use equipment — has not only helped cleaning firms align with corporate and public sector procurement standards but appeals to an increasingly eco-conscious customer base.
On the human capital front, the industry has developed its training offer to support further professionalisation. The rollout of the Level 2 Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship offers a route for businesses across the sector to invest more in their staff. The launch of the UK Cleaning Career Development Zone last year brings together industry wide training and career development opportunities into one place online for the first time (https://ukcleaning.org.uk).
We at the BCC have continued our campaign to win deserved recognition for the essential work of the cleaning sector and staff, through initiatives such as the Strategic Framework For Achieving Cleanliness And Hygiene in Public Environments, which we published last year.
In this document, we made the case that higher standards of cleaning and hygiene in UK workplaces and public spaces, combined with handwashing measures, are the best way of reducing the spread of common infections such as flu and other illnesses, as well as protecting against any future pandemic.
Despite our Government lobby work having made some progress, our sector is still not being recognised and listened to as much as we would like by the Government.
There is a clear feeling in the industry that we need to speak with one, strong voice and we are currently holding high-level meetings with associations and business leaders to look at the potential for the industry to develop a unified and aligned strategic approach on this issue.
Recruitment and retention remain issues for the sector. Many companies report intense competition for labour, with staff shortages cited as a major constraint on expansion. This is a national problem, also affecting other sectors.
An ageing workforce exacerbates this trend, with a significant segment of existing staff approaching retirement age and not enough younger entrants stepping in to replace them.
This is partly due to out-of-date perceptions of the industry held by the public, which fail to recognise the wealth of opportunities and rewarding careers the modern sector offers.
Many in the industry are fully aware of this need to recruit young staff and this could be another area which the sector could work together on.
We celebrate the next Cleaning Show in London, in March 2027. I hope when that comes around we’ll be able to mark the industry building further on its notable successes and making progress in addressing these structural issues.
Email compsec@britishcleaningcouncil.org for a free copy of our research report