Clean break for Islington Council

Published: 17 September, 2010
by ROÍSÍN GEDALRAB

CLEANING services for up to 100 buildings were last night (Thursday) due to be brought back under council control.

The Town Hall contract with Kier Islington is due to come to an end and Islington councillors at yesterday’s Town Hall executive meeting were expected to agree to take back control of the contract from November this year.

The deal will affect about 150 cleaners who work on up to 100 council municipal buildings, not including schools.

A report presented to councillors last night said: “This will lead to an improvement in both service quality and value for money and will provide greater flexib­ility as the council adjusts to the challeng­ing period ahead.”

In March this year, the council agreed to pay all agency and temporary staff a minimum London Living Wage.

Labour finance chief councillor Richard Greening said: “The council is today taking a small but important step in making Islington a fairer borough by ensur­ing that the staff who clean council buildings are paid properly.

“At present, many of our cleaning staff are ‘temps’ – they do not have contracts with terms and conditions or the right to sick leave. Bringing the service back in-house means we have been able to redirect money spent on management and contractor’s profits in order to increase cleaners’ pay to the London Living Wage of £7.85 per hour.”

He added: “We have done this without increasing the cost to council taxpayers. In return, we as a council get a better motivated workforce, increased productivity and commitment. It also means that we could in future offer our cleaning service to other local organisations including charities and voluntary groups. There are benefits all round.”