Your opinion on Brexit matters

Of course, Brexit looks set to dominate 2017 with the UK Government's complex exit negotiations with Brussels expected to get underway in the first quarter of the year.

Whatever the outcome – and whether you're a supplier of cleaning equipment and services, a contract cleaner or a facilities manager – it is likely that Brexit will affect your business in some way, from the workforce to trade and more. 

There has been a lot of misinformation and scaremongering since the summer, leading to business uncertainty and knocked confidence. It is imperative, therefore, to gather accurate market intelligence so businesses can make investment and recruitment decisions based on what is actually happening. 

With this in mind, Cleaning Matters launched a survey at the end of 2016 to determine the impact of Brexit on the cleaning industry. Open to all our readers, the survey sought to identify the key issues within the sector following the success of the leave vote as well as the likely implications of Brexit. 

Your views and experiences are vital in helping to shape the future of our industry and how it responds to this important event. I'm therefore delighted to say that we had a phenomenal response to the survey! Thank you to everyone who took part and to our sponsor Vileda for sending all participants a PVAmicro microfibre cloth. 

According to Prime Minister Theresa May, ‘Brexit means Brexit’ and the UK is going to ‘make a success of it’. It is therefore up to our sector to help shape UK government policy and to identify the opportunities and solutions to the challenges ahead. 

The results of the survey will be presented and analysed in a special report, available at the end of February at www.cleaning-matters.com. This will be the first in a new series that we're excited to launch in 2017. The next one up will be a special report on the most important issues in hospital and healthcare hygiene – to be released in the summer.