How will Britain leaving the EU affect you?

Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: "The weeks and months ahead are going to be a nervy time for business leaders, so they need to know that the government is focused on maintaining stability while a new relationship with the EU is established."

In the professional cleaning industry, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors of cleaning equipment and products will be keenly watching whether Britain's new deal will retain tariff-free access to the EU market for goods and services and ensure regulatory stability.

Whether negotiations will continue to address the UK skills gap will be another point of interest, particularly for our sector, as a new report from the British Cleaning Council shows that the UK cleaning industry relies on migrant labour more heavily than other economic sectors, with 24% of workers having a non-UK nationality compared to the average of 18% across other industries. 

Regarding the impact of the 'leave' vote on the cleaning industry, Dianna Steinbach, director EMEA Services at ISSA, told Cleaning Matters: “Our industry is global and necessarily it has found ways to weather many economic situations in the past. It will prevail in this one as well, once the dust settles and the impact has been made clear. The business leaders I have met so far in the UK are smart, savvy and entrepreneurial. I trust they will put that to good use in the years to come to continue to grow their businesses and lead the market.”
 
The British Cleaning Council (BCC) also released a statement in which it said that “whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, Europe remains a very important market for the UK cleaning industry, and every effort should be made to make the transition to a non EU state as smooth as possible”.

It added: "There are many EU nationals working in the UK cleaning industry and their hard work and commitment is extremely important for the buoyancy of the industry. The UK cleaning industry also has strong links to partners in Europe, and we are determined to keep those links strong.”

We'll bring you more news on Brexit at www.cleaning-matters.co.uk as the situation develops.