The Real Cost Pressure Reshaping Commercial Cleaning

The need to do more with less means we have to work smarter.

Commercial cleaning is a people-led industry. Technology, equipment and products all have an important role to play, but the quality and consistency of the service still depend heavily on frontline teams. That is why labour-related costs are now one of the biggest pressures facing the sector.

The latest changes to statutory sick pay have brought this into sharper focus. At Peartree Cleaning, we estimate that the new rules could increase sick pay costs by around 30%, creating a significant additional pressure at a time when providers are already managing wage inflation, recruitment challenges and rising client expectations.

From 6 April 2026, SSP became payable from the first day of sickness, removing the previous three waiting days. The lower earnings threshold was also removed, meaning more workers, including part-time and lower-paid staff, now qualify. SSP is now calculated as the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings or the statutory weekly rate.

For employees, this is an important step as no one should feel forced to work while unwell because they cannot afford to stay at home. In our business, where frontline teams are often working in occupied offices, public spaces, transport environments and hygiene-critical settings, supporting people to take time off when genuinely unwell is also part of creating safer workplaces.

However, there is a commercial reality, too. For a people-led service business, a potential 30% increase in sick pay costs is not a small adjustment. It adds to an already challenging cost base and raises a wider question for the industry: how can providers continue to deliver high-quality, resilient services when labour costs are rising and clients are still under pressure to control spend?

A role for technology
One response being explored across facilities management is technology. There is growing interest in autonomous cleaning equipment, smarter machinery and apps that can digitise tasks, capture data and give facilities teams better visibility of what is being delivered on site. New platforms are also entering the market, with a focus on AI, sensors and smarter FM.

The direction of travel is understandable. If labour becomes more expensive, providers and clients naturally look for ways to improve productivity, visibility and cost control. Autonomous floor cleaning equipment, for example, can support repetitive cleaning tasks in suitable environments, freeing teams to focus on areas where human judgement, responsiveness and attention to detail are still essential. Digital platforms can also help improve task management, reporting, auditing, time visibility and client communication.

Peartree has already taken steps in this direction through its Peartree 360 platform. The system supports sickness reporting and visibility, helping managers understand absence trends more clearly and support colleagues in line with the new SSP requirements. For a mobile and distributed workforce, this type of digital oversight is essential. It helps ensure legislation is implemented consistently, while also giving the business better data around workforce planning and operational impact.

The next stage is to look carefully at where new digital tools and smarter equipment can genuinely improve efficiency, rather than simply creating data for the sake of it. This distinction matters. The industry should be open to innovation, but it should also be realistic about what technology can and cannot solve.

Working smarter
Cleaning is not a fully automated service. Robots and software can support delivery, but they cannot replace the full value of trained, experienced cleaning teams. They cannot manage every client interaction, respond to every unexpected issue, open doors, make every judgement call or build the day-to-day knowledge that keeps complex sites running well.

That means technology has to be introduced with a clear purpose. It should improve productivity, strengthen reporting and support better decision-making. It should help managers deploy people more effectively and give clients greater transparency. It should not simply be used as a blunt tool to reduce labour without considering service quality, safety or the experience of building users.

There is also a sustainability question. Many clients are asking cleaning providers to reduce chemical use, cut waste, improve reporting and support wider ESG goals. Chemical-free cleaning can help reduce reliance on traditional cleaning products, lower packaging requirements and support more efficient operations. But these innovations also require investment, planning and training.

This is the central challenge. Cleaning providers are being asked to do more with less, while also absorbing additional employment costs and investing in new systems. That pressure cannot be ignored indefinitely.

Procurement therefore has an important role to play. Cost will always matter and providers understand the pressure facilities teams are under. But the cheapest service is not necessarily the most resilient. If pricing leaves no room for investment in people, technology, training, equipment, compliance or innovation, then the service may look lower cost on paper but become harder to sustain in practice.

A changing market
The SSP changes highlight a broader shift taking place across the sector. Responsible employment, service resilience, digital transformation and environmental performance are increasingly connected. They cannot be treated as separate issues, because each one affects the cost and quality of service delivery.

For us, the answer is not to replace people with technology. It is to use technology more intelligently, so teams can be supported, clients can receive better information, and services can remain commercially sustainable.

The future of cleaning will not be about doing the same work with fewer people at any cost. It will be about using people, equipment and data in a smarter way. Rising labour costs may be accelerating that shift, but the real opportunity is to build cleaning models that are more efficient, more transparent and more resilient.