Outwood Grange
An extremely well-respected secondary school and college in Malton hired ICS Cleaning to do their school cleaning work.
Introduction
In 2015, Outwood Academy faced difficulties in staffing a new Art building. ICS Cleaning was approached by the academy for a solution. Having already provided cleaning services to Danum Academy in Doncaster, which was part of the same trust as Outwood Academy, ICS took on the challenge and began a successful partnership that resulted in a steady increase in contracts.
“Outsourcing our cleaning contract was a big decision. We were very impressed by the level of service offered by ICS as they had initially provided a cleaning service for part of our Academy site when we were struggling to fulfil our cleaning needs. It was imperative that the standards would be kept high and that we had a fully responsive and flexible cleaning team in place. The move to ICS ensured previous high standards were maintained and ICS tailored both the cleaning and equipment to suit our Academy’s needs, we were also pleased that they could TUPE our existing cleaning staff. We have found them to be a friendly, professional and reliable company, we have regular visits and communication from the area supervisor allocated to us, and their cleaning staff get on with the job providing us with excellent service.”
Adelle RowleyFacilities Manager
Solution
ICS placed new machinery on site and trained its staff to meet the BICS (British Institute of Cleaning Science) standards it employs across all its sites. The cleaning was done effectively, and within a year, Outwood Academy outsourced cleaning services to ICS for another external building.
Result
The results of ICS’s cleaning service exceeded Outwood Academy’s expectations, and they continued outsourcing to the cleaning company for other buildings within the school. This continued with the same success, resulting in ICS being approached to completely take over the cleaning of the school in early 2022. ICS successfully transferred the school’s remaining staff under the TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations) to its organization. In January 2023, ICS took over the complete cleaning of Outwood Academy. With new machinery and a rezoning of the school, ICS seamlessly integrated Outwood Academy’s existing staff with its own. The ICS team provided excellent support, building relationships with the new staff who initially felt apprehensive about the change.
Conclusion
Outwood Academy’s experience working with ICS showcases the success of effective communication and excellent support. ICS’s ability to work with and integrate the academy’s existing staff with their own was instrumental in the transfer process being seamless. The success of the partnership was demonstrated by the fact that Outwood Academy approached ICS, as it did not face similar staffing issues elsewhere in the trust. Through effective teamwork and an unwavering commitment to providing top-quality cleaning services, ICS demonstrated that it is more than capable of handling a school of Outwood Academy’s size and complexity.
