BICSC FEATURE

WHEN THE opportunity came up to write a piece regarding the changes BICSc has undergone over the 25 years that Cleaning Matters has been spreading the word in the Cleaning Industry, I wondered whether I’d be able to complete the 1500 words requested. But as I’ve started to pull together the information I’d like to share I realised it would be more of a job to edit the piece down.

I’ve been an assessor for the BICSc skills since the 1990s, a little longer than 25 years even if it doesn’t feel that way. Having undertaken both NVQ and BICSc training courses our company decided that BICSc was the best fit for our business and we set about establishing an in-house training centre. Over the years of training BICSc skills, I have had the pleasure of seeing candidates realise that they could achieve and even in some cases, excel. BICSc training as practical and demonstrable cleaning skills provides an alternate learning method to the educational models they were used to.

I was an assessor for the BICSc COPC – Cleaning Operative’s Proficiency Certificate – and was fortunate to hold all the skills this offered as well as the skills catalogue from the FPCC – Food Premises Cleaning Certificate. Working for a cleaning contractor who had a range of facilities in their portfolio and having the full range of skills made sense and came in very useful over the years. Back then BICSc provided the marking criteria but not the training material, something that I’m glad to say has changed over the last 25 years.

BICSc in 2000

Back in 2000 when Cleaning Matters was launched, the BICSc chair was Mr Terry Brooks and BICSc president Dr David Bellamy OBE, the BICSc Council was made up of 18 council members, a chairman, a vice chairman, plus up to two life vice presidents. Mike Sweeney was CEO and there were five additional members of BICSc staff – Bryan, Cathy, Gill, Joy, and Paula. This core team dealt with the certification requests from the companies who ran BICSc training and the BICSc Council was the body that looked at updates and skills for the COPC scheme, often also being the people who trained out BICSc skills as well.

The 2000s saw the council members reduced by five to 13 members and then, in 2017, it was further reduced to nine. These reductions agreed on by the council members at the time helped to keep the council agile and reduce the time required to attend council meetings - while still providing oversight for the Institute and setting the course for future developments. The COVID period also saw the extension of the chair’s term from two to three years, bringing it into line with the election term of council members. 

New rules for council members were also introduced preventing them from direct financial benefit from BICSc and also being required to stand down for at least one year after three terms, nine years. These measures were meant to ensure that everyone serving on the Council had the best interests of the industry at heart.

A brief history

When BICSc was established by Eric Hill in the 1960s it occupied rental property firstly in London and then in Northampton. The last 25 years has seen major changes in property ownership with 2003 seeing the purchase of its own property in Moulton Park, 9 Premier Court. This move into property ownership was just the first change in these past 25 years as 2009 saw 8 Premier Court added to the portfolio. This provided BICSc with the opportunity to have its own training facility – something that had been lost when the premises at Anglia Way was surrendered for 9 Premier Court. 2018 saw the purchase of 4 Premier Court, this building was to be allocated as office space so that the whole of 8 and 9 could be remodelled as training facilities, allowing the BICSc training option to be expanded considerably. The full training facility was opened by the then Chair, Sue Robinson, in July 2018.

Training and skills assessment

For many years BICSc COPC training had provided practical skills assessment. Now this included in the skills of scaffolding erection and vitrification, and with the increasing focus on robust health and safety measures it was decided to review the COPC scheme, with both BICSc staff and members of the Training and Education committee of BICSc Council, the outline for a new scheme the Cleaning Professionals Skills Suite – CPSS was designed.

CPSS considered the changes in the cleaning industry and the legislative challenges. The skills that were the most popular in the COPC were reviewed, and several skills that were not used were retired. CPSS included the BICSc schemes such as the Cleaning Operative’s Proficiency Certificate – COPC, Food Premises Cleaning Certificate – FPCC, Healthcare Professional’s Cleaning Certificate – HPCC and the Sanitary Cleaning Proficiency Certificate – SCPC as well as the Cleaning Supervisory Skills Certificate.

Trialled with industry from 2011 the review in 2014 to CPSS V2 meant that the new Skills Suite scheme replaced the alphabet soup of the myriad of schemes BICSc offered. The instructions in the CPSS V2 were that the operative should be provided with any specific site requirements at the time of training so Damp Mopping skill covered all the work areas that the previous 4 schemes had offered.

For anyone used to the previous schemes there were new alphanumeric descriptors to get used to, the skills had been redefined into the following categories:

• Mandatory Units were combined and the Licence to Practice (LTP) formed into the foundation skill that we are used to today
• Base Units (BU) skills that are used every day such as vacuuming and damp wiping
• Additional Units (AU) skills that are carried out on a less frequent basis washing surfaces and stain removal
• Specialist Units (SU) stripping and resealing floors and extraction cleaning carpets.

To aid the standardised delivery of BICSc training, in 2014 it was decided to appoint Accredited Training Organisations, responsible for specific regions these companies were a replacement for the system where any company could set themselves up to train the BICSc qualifications, charging candidates as they chose and paying BICSC solely for the certification and their annual verification.

An invitation to tender for the regions was put out and the potential providers were voted upon by BICSc Council. This move was an attempt to standardise BICSc skills training to ensure everyone received the same level of training and assessment. With the establishment of the BICSc training suite, it was decided to bring BICSc training in-house to further aid standardisation. This led to the appointment of directly employed trainers offering training either at the client’s premises or the BICSc training suite in Northampton.

Introducing new courses

2017 saw the introduction of the Cleanlogic courses. These courses are designed to support our members’ and our customers’ own training centres and growth within the cleaning industry. For example, The Principles of Health and Safety providing training and templatesfor the completion of risk assessments, method statements, and COSHH assessments, all documentation that we expect our training centres to supply for their operational staff and indeed that we inspect annually to ensure it is in place.

Initially these courses were offered as face-to-face training with sessions running quarterly at our training centre in Northampton, we then moved to online options as our capabilities progressed, face-to-face training at the office by exception now as the majority of customers prefer being able to take the course at their own pace in the comfort of their own surroundings, it is also a much more cost-effective offer in its online form.

The initial online LTP course – produced during the Covid years so that BICSc could remain training and trading – was so successful that we looked to develop the most popular CPSS skills into online courses and currently, we offer 17 of these skills in an online format, assessment being either face-to-face at the training suite or via a live video call.

We have recently looked at rolling the skills for areas, for example cleaning a toilet as a rolled skill incorporates the skills for damp mopping, cleaning and emptying waste bins, cleaning glass and mirrors and cleaning the toilet facilities – as you will know all these skills are required to successfully complete the toilet area. These rolled skills are proving so popular that we will look to develop new skills in a similar format, supporting the customers in their requirements for effective and efficient training. After all, rolled skills are not just the efficient and effective way of completing the skill but also the cleaning methodology for the area – implementing the CPSS skills into a working practice model for the operative.

The Covid years also saw an increase in BICSc Corporate membership with 200 new members joining our ranks. In these times of uncertainty, we did our best to provide clear information and supported our members with regular webinars and Q&A sessions. As we have maintained these additional members it would seem what we offered has proved its value.

There have also been radical changes to BICSc Best Value documentation, with a decision to move from Version 6 of Best Value to BICSc Standards & Best Practice – this has also been reviewed annually to ensure we offer the most relevant and up to date advice. Trials running currently in conjunction with the CSSA and the University of Surrey will be incorporated into the next edition at the completion of the trial.

Real time assessment

BICSc introduced the Assessor App in 2020 as an alternative to the CPSS Assessor kit to allow real time assessment – providing valuable information and accurate timings for the skills demonstrations but also being a free application to our assessors this saves the costs of the manuals and allows for instant updates and value-added additions. 2024 for example saw the assessors being able to download the SOPs for the skills they hold.

The Training App launched in 2024 allows access to the training videos and online courses that the candidate had access to on their computer being available on more mobile optionssuch as smart phones and tablets.

BICSc also introduced the BICSc card with the CPSS launch – LTP qualification is purelyshown by this card, the LTP achievement showing a single star on the card front with the photo of the successful applicant. If the candidate goes on to add CPSS skills this becomes a 2-star rating, the Accredited Trainer qualification adds a 3rd star and finally BICSc Licensed Assessors holding the highest rating of 4 stars – thus providing an easily accessible check on operatives’ capabilities and qualifications, the skills they hold being listed on the rear of the card for further qualification of their abilities.

I think it’s clear to see that BICSc has evolved over the last 25 years offering more support and training to its members. Providing a standardised approach to its skills training and working to ensure it remains relevant to its customers and members. Exploring technology to support these aims and adapting its methodologies to remain current and effective, promoting best practice and safe working practices to cleaning operatives both nationally and internationally. I’m excited to see just what the next 25 years will bring!

Denise Hanson is commercial director at the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc)

For more information visit: www.bics.org.uk