Cleaning firm repays £92k for lost hours

THE company responsible for the cleaning crisis in Edinburgh's schools has repaid the council £92,000 for lost hours.

Teachers were forced to clean their own classrooms due to the shortage of cleaners employed by Direct Cleaning last year.

The crisis meant that classrooms were being left untouched and tasks such as vacuuming and wiping surfaces were neglected, with the limited cleaning staff being told to focus on "key areas" such as toilets.

Council bosses admitted that the situation did get out of control when the number of cleaning vacancies hit 180 at Christmas time and branded the situation unacceptable.

The situation is now under control, but Direct Cleaning has been ordered to pay the council compensation for the number of hours lost.

Director of education Gillian Tee said: "It has been recognised that for the second half of last year, Direct Cleaning was not able to meet fully the cleaning specification currently paid for. The costs and charges for these services have been reviewed to reflect lost cleaning hours, agency charges, additional overtime worked, and the cost of re-deploying staff etc."