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Cleaner

Cleaners carry out general cleaning of offices, shops and homes, or more specialised cleaning like upholstery or the outsides of buildings.

Annual Salary

£17,000 to £24,000

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

32 to 43 variable

You could work: evenings / weekends; on split shifts

0.3%
Future employment

There will be 0.3% more Cleaner jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

Your tasks will depend on where you are working.

As a cleaner you could:

  • clean business settings, houses or vehicles
  • clean at heights using ladders or mobile access equipment
  • follow infection control procedures in hospital wards and operating theatres
  • maintain stock levels of cleaning products
  • follow health and safety guidelines and food and hygiene regulations

Working environment

You may need to wear a uniform.

You could work at a client's home or at a client's business.

Your working environment may be dirty.

You can get into this job through:

  • a college course
  • an apprenticeship
  • applying directly
College

You could do a college course in Cleaning or Cleaning Principles to get some of the skills and knowledge you'll need in this job.

For more information
Apprenticeship

You could do a Healthcare Cleaning Operative Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship.

This is useful if you want to work in hospitals, care homes or other places that need to clean to a high standard.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship
For more information
Direct application

You can apply for jobs with cleaning companies or any organisation that employs their own cleaners.

There are no set entry requirements, but you'll need to show that you're reliable and able to do the job.

If you're looking for specialised cleaning work such as in a medical setting, it can help to have some experience.

More information

You can find out more about careers in cleaning from the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc).

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

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With experience you could:move into specialist cleaning; progress to a supervisor or manager; start your own business

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • the ability to work on your own
  • customer service skills
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • knowledge of public safety and security
  • physical fitness and endurance
  • the ability to organise your time and workload
  • a desire to help people
  • leadership skills
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
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