Churchill provides the cleaning services for around 50 primary schools and nurseries across West Sussex. In this Q&A, operations manager James Temby talks through what a school should really be looking for when comparing providers, and why compliance deserves just as much attention as cost.
Tell us about your role and Churchill’s work in schools across West Sussex.
I am the operations director and oversee the operations manager for all our contracts that sit in West Sussex, where we currently clean around 50 primary schools and nurseries. Nursery and primary provision often share the same site, and we also work in several children and family centres. It’s a significant part of what we do locally, and it’s a sector where the stakes around safeguarding and compliance are especially high.
What should schools really be weighing up when comparing cleaning providers?
It’s completely understandable that schools want to manage costs carefully; everyone in the sector is under financial pressure at the moment. But a headline price doesn’t tell you everything about what’s included. It’s worth asking what sits behind that number. Questions should include:
- Are staff properly vetted?
- Are staff trained?
- Does the provider hold correct insurances, and to what value?
- Can they show you evidence that standards are being maintained, not just promised?
A significantly lower price usually means something has been reduced somewhere, and it’s worth knowing what that is before you sign. It’s also worth making sure the contract itself sets out clear safeguarding requirements, not just assumed as part of the service.
Why does compliance matter so much in a school cleaning contract?
Safeguarding responsibility sits with the school and the head teacher, even when the cleaning is contracted out. That means the checks on staff, the health and safety processes, and the paperwork behind it all need to be auditable. We also keep documented, dated risk assessments and COSHH records for every site, and we can evidence our audits and any corrective actions if something needs to be addressed. Safeguarding guidance for schools is amended every year, and we have our own team that reviews that document each time it changes, to make sure we’re meeting every requirement as a contractor.
How do DBS and safeguarding checks work for cleaning staff going into schools?
All our staff working in schools have an enhanced DBS check, including a barred list check, in line with the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) guidance. A small number of schools also ask for an additional Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check, which covers three years of employment history alongside DBS, proof of address and identity checks.
The process itself starts with our account manager sending the individual a link to apply. Once that’s submitted, our compliance team verifies the original documents in person, checks everything matches what’s been declared, and only then approves the application. We use uCheck, a registered umbrella provider, to sign off our enhanced checks.
It’s worth knowing that an individual can only ever obtain a Basic check on their own behalf. An Enhanced check, which is what’s required for anyone working regularly in a school, must be signed off by a registered body, such as the school itself or an authorised umbrella provider. So, if a cleaner has arranged their own check rather than going through an employer’s process, it’s worth asking exactly what level of check that actually is.
KCSIE guidance is explicit that a self-employed contractor can’t apply for a DBS check directly, so if a school is dealing with a self-employed cleaner rather than one who’s directly employed, it’s down to the school to arrange that check itself.
An enhanced check can flag things from a long time ago, 30 or 40 years in some cases, and every so often that process does identify someone who isn’t suitable to work in a school. Once everything’s complete, we provide the school with a Letter of Assurance confirming the relevant checks have been carried out, so there’s a record for their own files.
What insurance and support structure comes with a Churchill contract?
We carry public liability and employers’ liability insurance up to £10 million each, along with keyholder insurance where it’s needed. That last one matters more than people think; a lot of schools give us a single key that opens every door on site, and if that’s ever lost, the school could be facing the cost of re-keying the whole building.
Every school has a dedicated local account manager as their first point of contact, backed by a regional operations manager and our operations director and managing director for oversight and escalation if it’s ever needed. We’re also fully compliant on the employment side; TUPE, pensions and National Living Wage are all correctly applied for the people looking after your site.
Why does being a West Sussex County Council approved supplier matter?
We’re an approved supplier to West Sussex County Council, which means we’ve already been through their vetting and procurement process, in part because we look after several council properties directly. For a school, that’s a level of scrutiny that’s already been done before we even start talking to you, which isn’t something every provider in this space will have gone through.
Beyond compliance, what else sets Churchill apart?
We’re an employee-owned business, which makes a genuine difference to staff retention. Our people know they’ll be paid correctly and their pensions looked after properly, and that loyalty means schools tend to keep the same familiar, trusted faces rather than a constantly changing team. As part of the wider Churchill Group, schools also have access to specialist services beyond cleaning if they ever need them, from grounds maintenance to window cleaning, through our sister companies.
Sustainability matters to us too. We work with suppliers who operate closed loop recycling systems, and we go through a proper procurement process to make sure the products we use are as sustainable as possible.
If budget is tight, what are the realistic options?
The financial pressure on schools is real, and it’s completely fair for a school to want to manage its costs. What we try to do is work with business managers on ways to do that without compromising compliance or day-to-day standards. For example, we might look at reducing the number of periodic or deep clean weeks across the year, or pause cleaning on teacher training days when the building isn’t in full use. That protects the core daily service and every bit of the compliance behind it, while still giving a school some room to manage its budget.
Read more about our education sector cleaning services, and get in touch if you’d like to discuss how we can support your school.