A brighter outlook for the cleaning industry?

The cleaning industry has been through a tough few years, with cleaning budgets among the first to be slashed when Britain hit turbulent economic times, and decisions such as the cancelling of the school refurbishment programme doing little to help the industry get back on its feet.

While there are still tough times ahead for parts of the industry, thankfully there are also signs of recovery.David Pattison, the author of a new Plimsoll study of the top 1000 companies in the UK cleaning services industry, says he still expects some struggling companies to fail in the New Year, but,“on the flipside their demise will bring a welcome reduction in competitive pressure for those left.” The Analysis (available via www.plimsoll.co.uk) suggests that while a third of companies are making a loss and 1 in 4 companies are in financial difficulty the industry on the whole is starting to emerge from the recession.

The trend towards greener cleaning solutions is playing no small part in this with the demand for greener cleaning solutions at last giving those consuming cleaning services a focus other than price.

Also identifying opportunity for the cleaning industry in 2011,Andrew Large chief executive of the CSSA suggests in his column (page 18) that the right support from the coalition government, “will allow manufacturers to flourish, and take advantage of the devalued sterling in a competitive international market.”

It seems some areas of the cleaning industry have also turned recent adverse weather conditions into opportunity.While snow showers and flooding have brought chaos to many parts of the UK and a lot of businesses have stuggled to function, in a recent Cleaning Matters online poll 40% of respondees said the conditions had led to an increase in demand for their services (30% said they hadn't been affected and 30% said they had been negatively affected). So while the weather forecast for the UK looks chilly for some time to come, it seems the outlook for the cleaning industry at least is starting to brighten up.

The Cleaning Matters team wishes you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Georgina Bisby
Editor