How to Budget for Hiring School Caretakers: A Practical Guide

Contents

Define the Role & Requirements

Before you can put a budget together, it’s essential to understand exactly what you need. A caretaker’s duties can vary hugely depending on your setting. Ask yourself:

Getting this clear early on will help shape your entire budget and save costs elsewhere when budgeting for school caretaker recruitment.

Estimate Salary Costs

Salaries vary depending on region, experience, and working pattern. As a rough guide:

Each contract type also comes with its own pros and cons, so it’s worth considering what works best for your school or trust:

In addition to salary or day rates, you’ll need to budget for on-costs such as:

These can add 25–30% to the total cost of employing someone directly.

However, if you work with a staffing service like TIB Services, these on-costs are already built into the rates we provide, so you won’t need to calculate them separately and can offer you better value.

Knowing how much it costs to hire a school caretaker, including all salary on-costs, is essential to effective budgeting.

Account for Recruitment Costs 

Even if you’re hiring directly, there are always hidden costs. Budget for:

When recruiting directly or through non-specialist agencies, it’s important to factor in the hidden costs. If a hire turns out to be a poor fit, the time, effort and expense of repeated recruitment cycles can quickly add up. This risk can be greatly reduced by using a specialist school site staffing service like TIB Services, where candidates are carefully vetted to KCSIE standards, trained and matched to your setting.

 For help keeping caretaker recruitment costs under control, see our article on cost-effective caretaker recruitment.

Include Training and Equipment

Once you’ve hired your caretaker, there are additional costs to consider:

These are not large expenses individually, but they do add up and are easy to overlook without a clear plan when budgeting for school caretaker hiring.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Proactive and realistic budgeting are key to stability and long-term value.

Conclusion

Budgeting well for your school caretaker hire doesn’t just help you manage costs. It leads to finding the right fit for your school and better outcomes for your site, staff and pupils. When you understand the true costs and plan ahead, you can make confident, informed choices that benefit your whole school community.