MEDIA RELEASE
CAF unveils Portfolio Certification to elevate partnership and responsible procurement
10 September 2024, Melbourne: The Cleaning Accountability Framework (CAF) has launched a new world-leading Portfolio Certification scheme to help Australia’s property industry elevate responsible procurement, promote fair labour practices and showcase leadership.
“CAF Portfolio Certification is a powerful tool that scales our partnerships with Australia’s property industry leaders. By working together, we can reward best practice and improve labour standards for cleaners across entire portfolios, much like NABERS Sustainable Portfolio Index and Green Star Performance certifications do for environmental standards,” said Miriam Thompson, Co-CEO, CAF.
Nearly 150,000 people are employed in commercial cleaning across Australia, most working in isolation and under temporary visas. This makes them vulnerable to unethical, unsafe and unlawful practices.
CAF launched the Building Certification scheme in 2019. This assesses individual buildings and their cleaning supply chains against the CAF Standard which incorporates six key areas: labour; responsible contracting; safe working conditions; financial viability; worker engagement; issue identification and remediation.
The new CAF Portfolio Certification provides asset owners with a systematic approach to portfolio-wide assessment. CAF Portfolio Certification is an effective and efficient mechanism to improve labour standards across an asset owner’s entire cleaning supply chain, in a manner that ensures that cleaners’ rights and ability to speak up are prioritised.
The Fair Work Ombudsman, Anna Booth, strongly endorsed the new scheme saying:
“Large property owners have a critical role to play in ensuring that cleaners of their buildings are treated fairly. CAF’s new Portfolio Certification is a great way to achieve this. It promotes fairness and safety for some of the most vulnerable workers in the Australian labour market through a collaborative model that includes industry, unions and government.
“Importantly, property owners and their procurement people who use CAF protect their workers, improve work environments, and lower the risk of workplace laws being breached.”
Leading property fund manager ISPT sponsored CAF’s Portfolio Pilot and is on the pathway to full certification of all eligible assets within its flagship Core Fund. As part of the Pilot, ISPT completed the first stage of Portfolio Certification and was awarded the first ever CAF GOLD Portfolio Rating. This rating means that ISPT has taken significant steps towards meeting the CAF Standard and is at the forefront of the industry. Furthermore, ISPT is the first owner to embed the CAF Portfolio Worker Engagement and Procurement Programs into a portfolio.
Steven Peters, Chief Sustainability Officer, ISPT, said:
“As a significant landlord, ISPT takes its approach towards responsible labour practices very seriously and we are committed to supporting fair pay for our cleaners and ensuring ethical labour practices in our business dealings.
“We are pleased to see these efforts reflected in the GOLD Portfolio Rating achieved across our Core Fund portfolio. Partnering with CAF has allowed ISPT to further pinpoint areas for improvement in procurement and contract management and help us to support our suppliers’ compliance with labour standards. In addition, with third-party validation, we have a tangible way to demonstrate our commitment to investors and track our progress against our ESG goals over time.”
CAF Portfolio Certification can also help asset owners meet their obligations under the Modern Slavery Act. Since 2019, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 has required companies with annual revenues above $100 million to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, to demonstrate how they are addressing those risks, as well as assessing the effectiveness of actions undertaken to address risk.
Looking ahead, Ashley King, Co-CEO of CAF, is confident that Portfolio Certification will extend CAF’s reach, and provide Australia’s property industry with a new source of ‘competitive collaboration’.
“More than 60 buildings have achieved and maintained CAF Certification to date. Our ambition is for CAF Portfolio Certification to be the trusted tool for certifying and communicating best practices in labour standards across all of Australia’s largest landlords. This is a cost-effective and powerful risk mitigation strategy for Australia’s leading property owners that will have a lasting impact on the lives of cleaners and the ethical standards of the industry.”
About CAF
Established in 2012, CAF works across the cleaning supply chain to improve working conditions, champion ethical procurement and introduce best practice. CAF’s Building Certification scheme, launched in 2019, offers an added advantage of being an anti-modern slavery mechanism. See: https://www.cleaningaccountability.org.au/
About CAF Portfolio Certification
Asset owners work through four stages to achieve CAF Portfolio Certification:
- Benchmarking: The portfolio of assets is benchmarked against the CAF Standard and given a rating of GOLD, SILVER, BRONZE or ‘participant’, depending on their level of performance. This process identifies areas where the owner is meeting the CAF Standard and where they need to improve to achieve full certification.
- Roadmap: CAF collaborates with the owner to develop a tailored ‘Pathway Plan’ which includes actionable steps to full certification.
- Implementation: During this phase, the owner may undertake any of four Portfolio Program Modules: Procurement; Responsible Contracting; Worker Engagement; and Education & Training.
- Certification: The owner reapplies for a rating and, if the portfolio meets all requirements of the CAF Standard, the portfolio is awarded full CAF Portfolio Certification.
A CAF Rating lasts for 12 months and must be renewed annually to maintain full CAF Portfolio Certification.
For more information: cleaningaccountability.org.au/portfolio-certification/
CAF media contact
Karen Jamal
KJ Communications
karen@kjcommunications.com
0412 179 135
ISPT media contact
Nicole Grove
General Manager, Communications
ngrove@ispt.com.au
0427 916 166