There was a lot of debate in the domestic cleaning services industry about the minimum wage increase in October 2008, some people saying that it would decrease employment, others saying that it would have little effect.

Interestingly the credit crunch and the recession has diverted people’s discussions away from this debate.

http://www.amycleaning.co.uk is friendly with most other domestic cleaning firms, it is a small industry where everyone really knows everyone .  The general conclusion is that in most areas it has had no measurable difference. 

This is partly because it is hard to measure in comparison to the general recession of the economy which has had a far larger effect.  Also before the minimum wage increased to £5.73, in most areas agencies had to pay a bit more than the minimum wage to get the great staff they needed anyway. 

Also as far as individual agencies are concerned, as all their rivals also have to pay more in each area to get staff they are at no disadvantage to their competitors.   Cleaners are needed in a specific areas so it is not something where there are competing with those located abroad that are not subject to these laws.

All in all, the challenging marketplace is caused by the current state of the economy and not the minimum wage increase. 

The management at Amy Domestic Cleaning Agency Services has been through a few recessions and has always been fine, so we regard it as all just a little history repeating. 

It is a sad fact though that many newer agencies do not have experience with these conditions and have not set themselves up correctly for them.  Normally the domestic cleaning agency services that are not managing to make it during these conditions are those that do not have proper financial reporting, organisation skills, management experience and biggest of all they have bank borrowings.

If you are a  agency that is having troubles, please do feel free to give us a call and we are always happy to chat to and help good people.