BICSc has announced the latest update to the internationally recognized qualification, The BICSc Cleaning Professionals Skills Suite (CPSS 2.0). Certain skills from the original CPSS have been removed completely, whilst other new skills that are now a requirement within the industry have been included.

"CPSS version 2.0 has been rewritten taking into account practices in the cleaning industry that have changed overtime reflecting both the cleaning task and the cleaning operative," says BICSc Head of Education and Qualifications, Maureen Kelso. "The changes are based on health and safety and best practice, which are reflected in how we should be carrying out the skills with the welfare and safety of the cleaning operative and others being the main concern as well as the preservation of assets.’

According to the announcement, CPSS version 2.0 has been designed in the following ways:

The Licence to Practice Qualification - This section is Mandatory and no candidate can commence on any of the subsequent skills within the following sections without successfully completing their Licence to Practice Assessment. Cleaning Operatives will receive their Licence to Practice ID card upon completion of the Assessment (typically completed in 1 day).

Within the mandatory section we have also introduced a recommended unit, which may be used as an alternative to renewing the Licence to Practice on expiry after the three-year period or can be used as a unit in its own right. It’s a simple but effective way of renewing the licence.

In the previous version of CPSS once the candidate had successfully completed their Licence to Practice they would then choose from the core skills, which allowed them access to 25 skills. However this is where we have introduced the main changes to the skills suite. Following the Mandatory units we have now broken the skills down into a further three descriptive sections. The units are as follows:

Base units – these are tasks that the cleaning operative would carry out on a daily basis with a total of 13 skills to choose from.

Additional units – these are tasks that may be performed frequently with a total of 13 skills to choose from.

The Specialist units - the specialist units are for occasional use and have been segregated. This includes skills such as graffiti removal, strip dry and re-apply emulsion polish. These skills will be available to assessors who comply with the Rules of combination. Skills such as these require prior knowledge and experience from other sections before cleaning operatives should undertake them.

Those interested in undertaking Accredited Cleaning Skills Training are able to select from the ‘pick and mix’ skills collection, choosing only the most relevant cleaning skills for the individual or organisations needs. CPSS Version 2.0 will be rolled out over 2014 and 2015.

BICSc Licenced Assessors delivering training via Accredited Training Organisations will be able to switch over to CPSS 2.0 upon their annual audit date.