UKHospitality announces job losses set to reach 111,000 by Budget
UKHospitality has projected that a total of 111,000 hospitality jobs will have been lost by the Budget on 26 November.
Few could have missed that the industry body has been active in arguing that the additional £3.4 billion in annual costs for hospitality businesses introduced in the previous Budget have done great damage to the sector.
The most damaging change, it said, was the lowering of the employer NICs threshold, which brought 774,000 people working part-time or in flexible jobs into the tax threshold for the first time.
Moreover, the hospitality industry employs 3.5 million people, making it the third largest employer in the UK. It contributes £54 billion in tax annually.
UKHospitality’s projection is based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which revealed that 10,963 hospitality jobs were lost in the last month.
According to revised ONS data, the total jobs lost in the sector since the Budget is now 84,000, or 4% of all jobs in the sector. This also means that hospitality accounts for 55% of all jobs lost in the UK economy.
This implies 27,000 further jobs are projected to be lost by the end of November.
Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: “Losing 111,000 hospitality jobs by the Budget will be a devastating landmark for hospitality to reach and will be one that truly illustrates the unthinkable damage done to our sector."
She added: "Witnessing more than 84,000 jobs lost in hospitality already is heartbreaking.”
UKHospitality is urging the Government to implement changes in the November Budget in order to reverse the damage done, including lowering business rates, changing the NICs threshold and cutting VAT.
Nicholls said: “Hospitality is being taxed out and the sheer scale of cost increases hitting the sector is forcing businesses to make tough decisions. This is the opposite of what we want to do. We want to create jobs, help people come back into work, invest in our businesses and support the communities we serve. I would urge the Government to act on our concerns… We stand ready to work together on solutions that can reverse the damage already done and help hospitality thrive, not just survive.”
UKHospitality is the biggest trade body for hospitality, representing more than 130,000 venues, including pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels.
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