School Cleaning Contractor Underperforming? A 30-Day Improvement Plan Before You Retender

A school cleaning contract rarely stops working in one dramatic moment.

More often, standards begin to drift through a series of smaller issues.

The same washrooms attract complaints. Bins are noticed before they are emptied. Corridors look acceptable one day and neglected the next. Actions are agreed at review meetings but remain incomplete. Standards briefly improve after concerns are raised, only to slip again a few weeks later.

At that point, schools can feel caught between two unhelpful options:

• Continue chasing the same problems and hope things improve
• Begin a potentially disruptive contractor retender immediately

There is a useful step between the two.

A structured, time-limited improvement plan gives the existing contractor a fair opportunity to recover performance. At the same time, it gives the school the evidence needed to decide whether the contract can be improved or whether more formal escalation is justified.

This 30-day plan is designed to help you do exactly that.

It is not about giving poor performance endless chances. It is about replacing frustration and vague promises with clear evidence, corrective actions, named owners and a decision date.

Before starting, download the free School Cleaning Control Kit. It includes the standards audit, complaint log, contractor review template and KPI tracker used throughout the process.

First, confirm what “underperforming” actually means

Before placing the contractor on an improvement plan, compare what is being delivered with what was originally agreed.

A school can outgrow its cleaning specification without immediately realising it.

Since the contract began, the school may have added:

• More pupils or staff
• Additional classrooms or buildings
• Extended opening hours
• Breakfast clubs or after-school activities
• More external lettings
• Changes to dining arrangements
• New high-traffic spaces
• Different access or safeguarding requirements

If the service now being expected is materially different from the contracted scope, the problem may not be contractor performance alone. The specification, cleaning hours or service frequencies may also need to be reviewed.

However, there are several signs that genuine underperformance may be developing:

• The same locations repeatedly fall below standard
• Complaints continue after the contractor says an issue has been resolved
• Missed cleans or staffing gaps are becoming more frequent
• Supervisor visits are irregular or ineffective
• Agreed actions repeatedly miss their deadlines
• Communication is slow, inconsistent or unclear
• Audit results are not improving
• Standards recover briefly and then slip again
• Site teams spend increasing amounts of time chasing the service

Good school cleaning oversight helps separate a difficult day from an emerging pattern.

The purpose of the next 30 days is to establish which one you are dealing with.

The 30-day contractor improvement plan at a glance

One school representative and one contractor representative should own the overall plan. Individual actions can be delegated, but responsibility for keeping the process moving must remain clear.

Days 1–3: establish an honest baseline

Start with evidence, not accumulated frustration.

The objective is to create a shared, factual picture of current performance before asking the contractor to make changes.

Complete a structured cleaning audit

Focus on the parts of the school that are:

• Most heavily used
• Most visible
• Most likely to generate complaints
• Most important to hygiene and presentation

These will often include entrances, corridors, stairwells, washrooms, dining areas, classrooms, touchpoints and waste points.

Use one consistent rating system, such as:

• Good
• Needs attention
• Poor

Record short, factual notes. Photographs may be helpful where a finding is disputed or difficult to explain, provided they are taken and stored in line with the school’s policies.

The existing guide to what a school cleaning audit should show explains how to make the audit more useful than a basic task checklist.

Review recent complaints

Bring together cleaning complaints from the previous four to eight weeks.

They may currently be spread across:

• Emails
• Helpdesk records
• Site-team messages
• Staff conversations
• Contractor reports
• Leadership feedback

For each issue, record:

• The location
• What happened
• When it happened
• Its severity
• How the contractor responded
• Whether it was properly resolved
• Whether the same issue has occurred before

The purpose is not to produce the longest possible list. It is to identify patterns.

Six complaints about different minor issues may be less significant than four complaints about the same washroom block over three weeks.

Check service-delivery exceptions

Record any recent:

• Missed cleans
• Late starts
• Staffing gaps
• Cover failures
• Equipment problems
• Supply shortages
• Uncompleted actions
• Missed supervisor visits

Then compare those findings with the cleaning specification and any agreed service levels.

Reduce the baseline to three to five priorities

Do not try to solve every small concern at once.

At the end of the baseline stage, identify the three to five failures that are having the greatest effect on the school.

For example:

• Repeatedly poor standards in two washroom blocks
• Missed cleans following staff absence
• Overflowing bins in the dining area
• Inconsistent supervisor attendance
• Contractor actions not completed by their deadlines

These become the priorities for the rest of the month.

Days 4–5: hold a formal reset meeting

This should not be another informal catch-up.

Tell the contractor that the school is beginning a time-limited performance improvement process and share the baseline evidence in advance.

The meeting should include:

• The school’s nominated contract lead
• The site or facilities representative
• The cleaning supervisor
• The contractor’s account or operations manager
• A trust estates or operations representative where appropriate

Use the meeting to understand the cause of each priority issue.

Possible causes may include:

• Insufficient cleaning time
• An ineffective rota
• Unfilled vacancies
• Weak absence cover
• Inadequate supervision
• Poor staff induction
• Equipment problems
• Supply failures
• Access restrictions
• Changes in how the school is being used
• Confusion about the specification

The objective is not to catch the contractor out. It is to identify what must change and who is responsible for changing it.

For each priority, agree:

The school’s existing cleaning review meeting structure can be used as the agenda for this conversation.

Keep the measures simple

You do not need dozens of KPIs.

Select a small group that directly reflects the problems identified in the baseline. Useful measures may include:

• Percentage of audited areas rated good
• Number of areas below standard
• Number of cleaning complaints
• Number of repeat complaints
• Percentage of complaints resolved within the agreed timeframe
• Number of missed cleans
• Number of staffing or cover gaps
• Percentage of agreed actions completed on time
• Frequency of supervisor attendance

Set measures that are relevant to the site and within the contractor’s influence.

A target that cannot be measured or controlled will not help either party.

Days 6–14: fix causes, not just symptoms

The first full week of the plan is where corrective action should become visible.

Depending on what the baseline revealed, the contractor’s actions may include:

• Revising cleaning rotas
• Changing the order in which areas are cleaned
• Increasing supervisor presence
• Providing additional staff induction
• Strengthening absence-cover arrangements
• Replacing faulty equipment
• Correcting supply levels
• Clarifying individual responsibilities
• Completing a one-off reset clean
• Adjusting checks at the end of each shift

A reset clean can help restore an area that has accumulated dirt or visible build-up, but it should not be treated as the whole solution.

If the rota, staffing, supervision or working method remains unchanged, the problem is likely to return.

The school may also have responsibilities during this stage.

These could include:

• Giving cleaners reliable access to rooms
• Communicating evening events and lettings
• Providing one clear route for reporting concerns
• Removing obstacles that prevent cleaning
• Confirming any changes to site use
• Distinguishing additional requests from the contracted specification

A fair improvement plan recognises problems on both sides. It should not expect the contractor to deliver requirements that were never included in the agreement without discussing the effect on hours, scope and price.

During this period, use a small number of short spot checks rather than waiting until the midpoint review. The guide to keeping school cleaning standards consistent between audits provides a practical monitoring rhythm.

Day 15: complete a midpoint review

Use exactly the same evidence categories as the original baseline.

Do not move the goalposts halfway through the process.

Review:

• Audit findings
• Complaints
• Repeat complaints
• Missed cleans
• Staffing and cover
• Supervisor attendance
• Agreed actions
• Response and resolution times

Give every priority a simple midpoint status.

Green: on track

The corrective action has been completed and early evidence shows that standards are improving.

Amber: partially on track

Some action has been taken, but the result is incomplete, inconsistent or too early to confirm.

Red: off track

The action has not been completed, there is no meaningful improvement, or the original problem is continuing.

The midpoint review should end with a written record of:

• What has improved
• What has not improved
• Why any action is delayed
• What must happen before day 30
• Whether any issue now requires more formal escalation

A contractor does not need to have solved every issue by day 15. However, there should be clear evidence that the agreed corrective actions are being implemented.

Repeated promises without visible action are not progress.

Days 16–27: test whether the improvement is consistent

A good audit immediately after a contractor meeting does not prove that the contract has recovered.

The second half of the plan should test whether standards remain stable during ordinary school operations.

Continue to:

• Use the same audit format
• Track complaints in one place
• Mark repeat issues clearly
• Check whether actions are closed properly
• Record missed cleans and staffing gaps
• Confirm supervisor visits
• Review the priority areas regularly

Vary the timing of reasonable spot checks. Do not only inspect immediately after a scheduled supervisor visit or directly after the area has been cleaned.

The objective is to understand what normal performance now looks like.

For a multi-academy trust, use the same scoring and reporting structure across participating schools while allowing for differences in individual buildings. The guide to improving cleaning consistency across MAT sites provides additional guidance for trust-wide oversight.

This stage often reveals one of two things.

Either the corrective actions have changed the underlying process and standards are becoming more predictable, or the initial improvement was temporary and the same patterns are returning.

That distinction should shape the final decision.

Days 28–30: make a clear decision

By the final review, the school should have enough evidence to choose one of three outcomes.

Outcome one: performance has recovered

This may be appropriate where:

• Priority audit scores have improved
• Repeat complaints have reduced
• Staffing and cover are more stable
• Supervision is visible
• Agreed actions have been completed
• Communication is clearer
• Improvements have remained consistent

Close the formal improvement plan and return to the school’s normal monitoring schedule.

Do not stop measuring performance completely. The contractor has recovered because visibility and accountability increased. Retain an appropriate level of both.

Outcome two: performance is improving but remains incomplete

A short extension may be reasonable where:

• Most corrective actions have been implemented
• Performance is moving in the right direction
• One or two issues need more time for a clear operational reason
• The contractor has communicated honestly
• The school can see evidence of sustained effort and improvement

Any extension should be:

• Short
• Documented
• Limited to specific outstanding actions
• Supported by a new decision date

Do not allow a 30-day process to become an indefinite series of extensions.

Outcome three: performance has not recovered

More formal escalation may be justified where:

• The same issues continue to recur
• Audit results show little or no improvement
• Actions remain incomplete
• Staffing problems continue to affect delivery
• Supervision remains inconsistent
• Communication is poor
• The contractor disputes clear evidence without offering a solution
• Improvement appeared briefly but was not sustained

At this stage, review the contract’s escalation, notice and termination provisions and follow the school or trust’s procurement process.

If the decision is to seek a new provider, the free guide to Switching School Cleaning Contractors Without Chaos will help you prepare for mobilisation, TUPE, safeguarding, equipment and day-one delivery.

When should a school act before the 30 days are complete?

Not every situation is suitable for a month-long improvement process.

The school may need to act more quickly where there is:

• An immediate hygiene, health or safety risk
• A serious safeguarding or vetting concern
• Repeated non-attendance leaving critical areas unclean
• A refusal to address urgent failures
• Deliberately inaccurate service records
• A major contractual breach
• A breakdown in trust that cannot reasonably be repaired

Urgent incidents should be handled through the school’s existing safeguarding, health and safety, incident-management and contractual procedures.

Seek appropriate procurement or legal advice before taking formal contractual action.

What a fair contractor improvement plan is not

A performance improvement plan should not become:

• An attempt to micromanage individual cleaners
• A list of requirements that are not in the contract
• A reaction to one unusually difficult day
• An endless opportunity to make the same promises
• A way to delay a decision that the evidence already supports
• A process based only on opinions and informal comments

A fair process uses clear standards, gives the contractor an opportunity to respond and holds both parties to documented actions.

It also ends with a decision.

Give the current contract a fair opportunity - not an unlimited one

Retendering should not be triggered by every missed bin or isolated complaint.

Equally, schools should not spend another term chasing the same failures without a clear plan.

A 30-day improvement process creates a reasonable middle ground.

It gives the contractor an opportunity to identify the causes of underperformance and put them right. It gives the school a clearer evidence trail. Most importantly, it replaces repeated, inconclusive conversations with an agreed point at which a decision must be made.

Run the plan with ready-made templates

The free School Cleaning Control Kit includes:

• A cleaning-control self-assessment
• A school cleaning standards audit
• A complaint log
• A contractor performance-review template
• A simple KPI tracker
• Weekly, monthly and termly monitoring guidance
• Improve-or-escalate guidance

Download The Free School Cleaning Control Kit

About Ever Brite Cleaning

Ever Brite Cleaning supports schools, academies, colleges and multi-academy trusts with professionally managed cleaning services designed around reliable delivery, clear communication and consistent standards.

Our approach combines trained site teams, structured supervision, practical auditing, responsive contract management and clear reporting. The aim is to help education teams maintain clean, safe and well-presented environments without spending every day chasing the cleaning service.

Learn more about our professional school cleaning services or contact the Ever Brite team for a straightforward conversation about your current arrangements.

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