What Impact will the Increase in National Living Wage have on the Cleaning Industry?
National Living Wage Increase
If you’re familiar with Rapid Clean, then you’ll know how much we value good workers. We are passionate about rewarding hard work through our quarterly Superstar Award and we ensure that all cleaning operatives are paid well for their work.
In this industry, wages have traditionally been low. The introduction of a minimum wage back in 1999, was something that we celebrated. Not all cleaning companies felt the same way, but we truly believe that our cleaners work hard and deserve to be paid ahead of the minimum requirement wherever possible.
Paying cleaners in excess of what is now known as the National Living Wage (25 year old workers and over), is something that we have always tried to do. It enables us to secure the best cleaning operatives, which in turn, ensures that our customers receive an excellent service that we are proud to deliver.
The National Living Wage has recently been increased to £8.72 per hour , effective from April 2020. In order to stay ahead of this we are having to increase charges to our customers. In our contract it states that prices remain fixed for a 12 month period but that excludes any change in legislation that we were unaware of at the time of pricing.
We understand that this hasn’t been a popular letter for our customers to receive but we hope that customers, and potential customers, agree with our reasons behind doing so. Margins are tight in the cleaning industry which means that we (and probably most) cleaning companies will be forced to pass this increase of 6.2% onto customers.
We are of course always flexible so if this increase is affecting you, we are happy to discuss ways of making savings by decreasing cleaning frequencies or adjusting the cleaning schedule.
