TUPE Commercial Cleaning Contracts: Your Questions Answered

At Wixted Cleaning, we have dealt with many cases where a TUPE transfer has been required.

Although it may appear complicated, any reputable commercial cleaning company should be able to handle the TUPE transfer procedure with ease. If you are interested in finding out more about what TUPE is, what it means for your business and how it applies to the commercial cleaning industry, read on to learn more.

What is TUPE?

In the cleaning industry, TUPE (which stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) is a government provision that allows a company to transfer from one cleaning provider to another while keeping the same cleaning personnel that were employed by the previous cleaning provider.

The law requires the new cleaning contractor to offer the employee the same cleaning position with the same pay and benefits as their previous employer and was created to protect employee rights.

There is no getting around or bypassing TUPE and it must be followed. At Wixted Cleaning, we make sure we work in a professional and excellent manner to comply with TUPE.

Since 2002, we have maintained a strong record of growth and as a result, we now have a clientele of more than 80 businesses with over 150 employees.

This is partially due to implementing a Client Care System that facilitates ongoing communication and feedback to guarantee that clients’ needs are satisfied even in cases where we have been required to follow TUPE regulations.

Does Wixted have a process in place to take on the staff under TUPE?

We have a four-stage process to deal with the transfer of incoming staff.

Stage 1: Come up with a TUPE process plan

We take on the task of interviewing the current employees at the beginning of the process to make sure they are happy to stay on and are willing to work with us to ensure that the client’s standards are met.

Stage 2: Prepare for transfer
At this point, we inform the employees of the transfer and inform them that their employment contracts will be taken over by Wixted Cleaning.

Stage 3: Put the transfer into effect
Once preparation and planning are complete and staff are properly informed, we put the transfer into effect. The goal is to ensure that having taken on all the transferring staff, we can focus on ensuring all employees/teams are managed, settled and clear about their duties.

Stage 4: After the transfer
Once a reasonable amount of time has passed and employees have adjusted and integrated, we review the effectiveness of procedures and address any further requirements.

How can customers be confident that all their needs will be met after TUPE?

As part of TUPE, any commercial cleaning operator must ensure that any staff they take on can work under no less favourable terms and conditions.

At Wixted Cleaning, we do however interview staff before the transfer and consider whether any changes in working practices (‘measures’) may be needed to make our cleaning services work more efficiently.

For example, one customer where we went through the transfer process was a school, which meant that the window of cleaning time was 3.00pm to 6.00pm, and so the current working pattern was three operatives working 3 hours per day, Monday to Friday.

This working pattern was causing a number of issues on site, as operatives had no additional time to be able to cover each other when one member of the team was absence or off sick at short notice.

In this instance, Wixted Cleaning consulted with the staff to propose that shift patterns were reduced to 2 hours per day to enable a fourth operative to work on site but remain within the client’s budget. This meant that when there were absences, the operatives could work overtime to cover each other, ensuring that the full contracted hours were worked at all times.

The staff agreed to the proposed changes, with the result that even after many months had passed, all the original cleaning operatives were still employed, and the customer was very happy with the level and quality of service and management.

Will there be a difference in quality and service after the TUPE process is complete?

We have noticed in taking on new clients and going through the TUPE process that communications between ourselves and the customer are often dramatically improved compared to the relationship with their previous cleaning service provider.

Also, through effective local management and training, the motivation and stability of the cleaning team are almost always improved, leading to more cleaning consistency and client satisfaction.

In fact, many of our clients find it hard to believe that the same cleaning staff are responsible for the new, high level of cleaning and standards they receive following the TUPE process. As a result of this, they are often pleased to provide Wixted Cleaning with a glowing reference when requested by prospective customers.

Contact Wixted Cleaning

To find out more about how Wixted Cleaning can help you with your cleaning contracts and TUPE regulations, contact us today on 01525 406926. Ask for a free quote and for more information on the types of cleaning services we can provide.