Grounds & landscaping

Outside, physical, visible progress every single day.

Basic DBSDays–weeks to first pay · £23–27k / £120–180 day SE

This week: labouring start

Grounds maintenance firms and landscapers take on labourers year-round, spring especially.

Start in days

First job: grounds operative

£23–27k. Basic DBS; council contracts sometimes ask for more, private work rarely does.

Basic check only

Year 1: tickets

PA1/PA6 spraying, chainsaw (CS30/31), digger — short courses that raise your rate fast.

The ceiling: your own rounds

Self-employed landscapers charge £120–180 a day. A van and a mower is a business.

Route to self-employment

Not sure where your record stands? Since October 2023 most records become spent far sooner than people assume — and spent records are invisible to a Basic check, like the ones on this route.

Check yours — it stays on your phone →

Real places to start

Find a job (GOV.UK)↗

Links open the real provider. Good:Folk never sits in the middle.

Employers that actively hire on this route

Public programmes for hiring people with convictions — doors that actually open.

Ground Control

National grounds-maintenance contractor — entry-level outdoor roles, no qualifications to start.

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