UKH: "Post-18 education support must target hospitality"

By Lisa Riley

Published: 30 September, 2020

UK Hospitality (UKH) has welcomed the announcement that the government will expand post-18 education and training.

Simultaneously, the trade body called on the government to provide hospitality-specific training and support in order to support businesses and employees over the course of the winter.

Reiterating the necessity of overall sector-specific support, which the trade body has been relentlessly lobbying for, to help hospitality businesses and their employees survive and rebuild, Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKH, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to provide some support for hospitality. Sector-specific training programmes can be a real boost for businesses and employees in our sector.”

Government-backed training schemes would help reduce the burden on hard-pressed businesses and give employees a chance to develop during a quiet winter, she added.

“We are facing a bleak six months with restrictions on trading and low consumer confidence. If the government supports training in our sector, it will keep more jobs open and put is in a much stronger position to begin rebuilding next year.”

Last week, research revealed that almost a quarter (23%) of hospitality businesses think their businesses will fail by the end of the year without further government support.

The stark figure formed part of CGA research, released by UKH, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and the British Institute of Innkeeping (BBI), conducted prior to the latest restrictions announced by the PM last week.

At the beginning of this week, a quintet of industry bodies joined forces to launch a free support service, CareerScope, to help people within hospitality, leisure and tourism who’ve lost their jobs or are struggling to find work as a result of Covid-19.

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