Are You Paying Too Much for Cleaning?
Benchmarking your school’s cleaning operation allows you to look objectively at what is required, rather than what has always been done.
Find Out in Seconds with Our Free Cleaning Productivity Assessment
For schools under increasing financial and operational pressure, our free Cleaning Productivity Assessment Calculator provides a practical starting point for understanding whether your school’s cleaning provision is genuinely fit-for-purpose.
The results may surprise you
Recent assessments have identified between 400 and 800 excess hours per week for our clients.
Simply enter a few estimated figures below to get started in seconds and see what this could mean for your school.
Figures do not need to be exact in order to get started, we just need to know:
- Roughly how many square meters of space you have
- The number of cleaning hours you pay for each week
…we’ll then show you how much you could be overspending on cleaning.
The aim is not to simply reduce hours or costs
It’s to make sure cleaning is properly resourced, consistent, and good value for money.
Over time, staffing levels related to cleaning often reflect historical decisions, legacy contracts or well-intentioned attempts to make things work within tight budgets.
Without a thorough benchmark schools risk...
- Under-resourcing – where cleaning teams are expected to cover too much space in too little time, increasing risk, inconsistency and staff fatigue
- Over-resourcing – where hours are allocated inefficiently, putting unnecessary pressure on budgets
- Inconsistent standards – across different buildings or sites within a Trust
- Limited visibility – for senior leaders over whether cleaning provision represents best value
- School Buildings
- Boarding Houses
See How We've Helped Schools Like Yours
It’s not just about cleaning – we help schools save time, reduce costs and deliver sustainable outcomes across Food Service Operations, Food Procurement and Strategy & Design.
Find out more below…
Marlborough College
Our client – Mike Naworynsky OBE, Director of Operations – is responsible for non-academic operations within the College, including the provision of appropriate facilities services to pupils, staff and stakeholders of the College.
Mike took up his post in September 2022. He identified that the in- house catering department needed support to modernise its approach, particularly in relation to the annual procurement of £1.4m of food and catering supplies. Having previously worked with Litmus, he wanted us to help him understand the options available to increase efficiency and eliminate non-value effort by implementing fit for purpose systems, comply with legislation and achieve better value while consistently improving product quality.
Litmus was engaged in January 2023.
Wellington College & Eagle House School, Berkshire
In 2012, the College set Litmus two challenges: to negotiate a contract extension with the incumbent contractor with a performance management model that promoted continuous improvement; and to re-design the aging kitchen spaces to enable the contractor to deliver best-in-class catering services. The contract scope was wide and complex, encompassing year-round catering, cleaning, laundry and logistical services for both students and vacation Lets visitors.
Manchester High School for Girls
For two contract periods, the catering and cleaning services were contracted out to a single service provider. The school wished to keep both services with one supplier, as several staff work across both departments and there is mutual support on-site between managers. However, they wanted to see what the market could provide in terms of service development and innovation, particularly in regard to cleaning.
Contact Us
We love to connect with business leaders that want to make a change. Contact our friendly team to request a no obligation chat about your current challenges and goals.