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Laundry worker

Alternative titles for this job include Dry cleaner

Laundry workers operate washing machines, steamers and dryers to clean items like clothes, bed linen, towels and uniforms.

Average salary (a year)

£16,500 Starter

to

£22,000 Experienced

Typical hours (a week)

39 to 41 a week

You could work

evenings / weekends / bank holidays on shifts

How to become

Explore the different ways to get into this role.

How to become

You can get into this job through:

  • an apprenticeship
  • applying directly

Apprenticeship

You could do a Commercial Laundry Operative Level 2 Intermediate Apprenticeship to get into this job.

This takes around 1 year to complete.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

  • some GCSEs, usually including English and maths, or equivalent, for an intermediate apprenticeship

More Information

Direct Application

You can apply directly for jobs. Experience in dry-cleaning or commercial clothes pressing may give you an advantage, although many employers will train you on the job.

Customer care skills would also be useful, for example from working in retail or hospitality.

Further information

You can find out more about working in laundry and dry cleaning services from the Guild of Cleaners and Launderers.

What it takes

Find out what skills you’ll use in this role.

What it takes

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

  • customer service skills
  • to be thorough and pay attention to detail
  • the ability to work well with others
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • the ability to use your initiative
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • the ability to organise your time and workload
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

What you’ll do

Discover the day to day tasks you’ll do in this role.

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

As a laundry worker, you could:

  • sort laundry according to fabric, colour and cleaning process
  • tag items with bar codes or computer chips for identification
  • treat heavily stained items before cleaning
  • set machine controls, add cleaning agents and wash or steam laundry
  • check quality before finishing items by drying, pressing and folding
  • deal with customer payments, give cleaning advice and prepare laundry for deliveries

Working environment

You could work at a laundry, in a hotel, in an NHS or private hospital or at an adult care home.

Your working environment may be physically demanding, humid and hot.

Career path and progression

Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities.

Career path and progression

With experience you could become a laundry service supervisor or manager.

In a dry cleaning shop, you could be promoted to store manager. If your shop is part of a chain, you could take on responsibility for several shops in an area or region.

You could also start your own laundry business.

Current opportunities

Find apprenticeships, courses and jobs available near you.

Current opportunities

Apprenticeships In England

We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for a laundry worker right now.

The Find an apprenticeship service can help you with your search, send alerts when new apprenticeships become available and has advice on how to apply.

Courses In England

Are you interested in becoming a laundry worker?

Search for training courses near you.

Jobs In the United Kingdom

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.

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Related careers

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