Almost 9,000 hospitality jobs lost since the budget

The latest labour market data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that hospitality employed 8,784 fewer people in December, compared to November when the budget was announced. It also showed that the sector took on 20,014 fewer people in December, compared to September. This came at a time when the sector would traditionally be staffing up in preparation for the busy festive season. 

The figures reinforce the scale of the challenges facing hospitality, with the impact of changes to employer NICs and other increased employment costs continuing to impact the sector. Successive budgets have increased the cost and tax burden exponentially, with businesses braced for a further blow in April when business rates are set to rise significantly. 

‘Urgent action’
UKHospitality is calling for urgent action to avert these increases to business rates, through a sector-wide solution. It is urging the government to increase the business rates discount for hospitality properties to the maximum 20p permitted in law.

Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “Hospitality has so much potential to drive growth, create new jobs and help people back into work, but it’s being held back by the highest tax burden in the economy.

“Looming business rates increases are only making things worse, and the government needs to act urgently to bring forward a hospitality-wide solution that averts those hikes. If it doesn’t, we will only see job losses and business closures accelerate.”

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