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
Encouraging progress for the BCC’s lobbying campaign
By Jim Melvin, Immediate Past Chair, British Cleaning Council (BCC). (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine).
I’m pleased to say that, since summer last year, we have begun to see progress with our campaign to lobby the Government to adopt the proposals 
made in the report Embedding Effective Hygiene for a Resilient UK.
As you will recall, the report was produced with our support in late 2022 by the former All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Cleaning and Hygiene Industry.
It contained key recommendations regarding cleaning and hygiene that would ensure the UK is better prepared for any future pandemic and also reduce the impact of current common infections such as flu.
Though processes move slowly and we have not yet secured the firm adoption of the recommendations, we have achieved some clear indications that the wind may be shifting in our favour.
In autumn last year, we wrote to Cabinet Secretary Pat McFadden to offer to contribute to the review of national resilience taking place in response to Baroness Hallett’s report of the first stage of the Covid Inquiry.
The Government’s response to the covid inquiry was very welcome and included a pledge to publish a resilience strategy in spring 2025, appoint a new head of resilience and adopt a new approach to managing anti-microbial resistance – all initiatives that are helpful to our cause.
We were delighted to recently receive an extremely encouraging response from Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office Abena Oppong-Asare MP, which was appreciative of our arguments, reflected the Government’s recognition of the vital role of the cleaning sector and confirmed that the BCC APPG report was being included and considered in the resilience review mentioned earlier.
To quote Abena Oppong-Asare’s letter: “The Government recognises the vital role that the cleaning and hygiene sector plays in ensuring public health and mitigating key risks, both in its routine work and during public health emergencies.”
We have responded and now hope to meet to further discuss the synergies between our views and to investigate any potential opportunity in which the BCC and therefore the industry, can assist.
Separately, the Government’s new National Risk Register 2025, cited the need for ‘a national communications plan to increase awareness and encourage good hygiene’ which relates strongly to one of the APPG report’s key recommendations.
We also made a submission to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee inquiry into how the Government is dealing with the risk posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The results of this were encouraging. During the committee session, it was clear that there was wide agreement with the APPG report’s recommendations regarding hygiene standards in public places. The need for hand hygiene was discussed several times, the need for education around public health was highlighted and the key role of cleaning staff in helping tackle AMR was also flagged up.
We have continued to try to engage on these issues with organisations including the UK Health Security Agency, whose Deputy Director for Pandemic Preparedness has recently been in touch to arrange a meeting, a number of individual politicians such as the Secretary of State for Health Wes Streeting, and a wide range of MPs.
We are also working to bolster our case by engaging with a very eminent physician who was significantly involved throughout the pandemic, who has been extremely helpful in advising us on gathering hard evidence about the health impacts of improved cleaning and hygiene in specific venues.
We will also investigate whether a new APPG for the sector can be established (all UK APPGs were dissolved ahead of the last General Election) and are approaching other organisations with aligned agendas to create momentum.
BTA wins support for its campaign for better public toilet provision
By Raymond Martin, MD of the British Toilet Association (BTA). (This column first appeared in Cleaning and Maintenance online).
Over the past 12 months, the British Toilet Association (BTA) has made more continued progress with our UK-wide campaign to reverse the decline in public toilet provision than we have seen in the last 20 years.
Moving forward, the Government and other public bodies are listening to and engaging with our argument for better public toilet provision.
We still have a long way to go – it could be a few years before we all achieve fundamental change – but I feel we have finally established considerable genuine support for our campaign.
Our Legalise Loos campaign primarily calls for the Government to introduce a mandatory and legal requirement for local authorities and town and parish councils to provide clean and hygienic public toilets in city and town centres.
Currently, local authorities are only providing public toilets as a discretionary service, where they think it appropriate.
As a result of this lack of legislation and control, the number of public toilets has reduced a staggering 40 per cent since 2000, impacting both people’s wellbeing and the economic health of our local shops, traders and business.
This affects people of all ages, whether travelling, participating in activities outside, or visiting family, friends and colleagues.
Estimates show that one in five people restrict their travel due to lack of public toilets, with around 14 million people having incontinence issues, up to 15 million people menstruating, and over 16 million people living with a disability.
Every decent society should cater for people who need to find relief and safety by using the toilet while away from home.
A Royal Society for Public Health report (2019) stated: “Public toilets should be considered as essential as streetlights, roads and waste collection, and equally well enforced by legislation and regulations.”
But there is also a strong economic argument. The lack of toilet facilities damages our high street economy. Research shows that pedestrian-friendly investment generates 30 per cent more footfall in town centres and high streets that provide decent, clean toilets. For instance, recent research in Soho shows a lack of public loos equated to £4.9m every year in lost revenue.
Our hopes of a breakthrough were first raised when the creation of a Toilet Commissioner was proposed as part of the Government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. Disappointingly, the concept was removed and shelved in 2023.
Labour MP Alex Norris had tabled some amendments relating to public toilet provision to that bill.
We are delighted to confirm that he has retained a consistent interest in this issue, so we were delighted to see him appointed as minister for growth, including high streets and towns, following the last General Election.
In November 2024, a BTA delegation was invited to meet the minister and other supportive MPs in Westminster and we were thrilled when he listened and agreed that something had to be done.
After some considerable follow up research, our next meeting has been set for next month.
In the past few months, we’ve also addressed and won backing from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Association of Town Centre Managers (ATCM).
Realistically, it will probably be a long time before we see any legislative changes, even if things go well, and we need to keep campaigning hard until our goals are achieved.
But a door that was closed for a long time has finally opened a little and that is all the encouragement we need.
New cleaning career development website will start a youth revolution
By Delia Cannings, Chair of the British Cleaning Council. (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine).
The launch of the new UK Cleaning Career Development Zone last month is an important step in attracting more young people to join the cleaning and hygiene sector.
The industry has an ageing workforce. The majority of staff are middle-aged. Younger people are simply not being attracted into our industry in the numbers we need.
I’ve always found this surprising because, as one of the biggest and most important industries in the UK, there is a wealth of career opportunities in our sector.
The diagnosis of the BCC and our members was that the lack of a structured approach to progression opportunities within the industry was hampering recruitment.
With information about career development and training opportunities being offered by a host of different providers on different platforms, those outside the sector could be confused about how to advance their careers after joining. Even existing staff could be unsure how to move sideways or upwards into more senior roles.
With over 40 different courses offered by 16 providers, the UK Cleaning Career Development Zone banishes this career-confusion by offering staff and potential new recruits easy access online to the information they need to succeed in a career in the sector.
Launched at the Cleaning Show, the Zone is a one-stop shop for information on training and education opportunities at apprenticeship, supervisory and management levels, as well as in support roles. There are cost-free, funded and fee-paying courses on the site. It also features case studies, useful links and information for employers.
Together, this package offers reassurance regarding regulated training options, supporting career progression and transition in a manner that suits individual skill sets, without compromising confidence.
We will use this platform to spread our message that the industry can offer new joiners job satisfaction, the opportunity to succeed in their career, rapid progression and/or options for part-time or flexible working.
Our message is that a cleaning career journey could take staff into hospitality, healthcare, education, engineering, manufacturing or local government – to name just a few of the sectors where industry staff work.
We want to highlight that there are also opportunities in business administration, digital marketing, creative and design, distribution and much more. Staff could even set up their own cleaning business.
We’ll tell young people that joining the cleaning sector could be a launchpad for their careers – the sky’s the limit for a career in our sector.
Visit the UK Cleaning Career Development Zone at www.ukcleaning.org.uk. For latest developments, follow www.linkedin.com/company/uk-cleaning-career-development-zone
The opportunities the sector offers have been cast into sharp relief by some of the facts in and figures in our 2025 research report, which we also launched at the Cleaning Show last month.
The figures, which are the latest available, show that the value of the cleaning, hygiene and waste industry jumped by more than ten percent in 12 months to reach a record-breaking figure of nearly £66.9bn. It marks a strong recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The report also showed employment in the cleaning, hygiene and waste sector increasing from 1.47m to 1.49m. This equates to approximately five percent of the UK workforce, maintaining the industry as a top ten employer in the UK.
The report contains a wide-ranging and detailed set of the most up-to-date industry figures available, including detailed statistics on areas such as numbers of migrants in the workforce, flexible working arrangements, recruitment, skills and health and safety. It also looks at key sub-industries in detail and analyses different occupations.
To order your free digital copy of the BCC’s 2025 research report, email compsec@britishcleaningcouncil.org.