The letter was co-ordinated by trade body UKHospitality, representing over 100,000 venues in a sector that employs millions of people, with the potential to ‘significantly increase’ its employment with the right measures.
The letter warns that ongoing inflation and debt pressures are holding the sector back from delivering economic growth and that, without action, there could be further business failures and job losses.
To survive the current crisis, without being able to access the additional energy support available for some sectors in April, and return to delivering growth, the signatories are urging the Chancellor to:
- Invest in our people through Apprenticeship Levy reform and incentivising economically inactive people into work
- Invest in our places through licensing and planning reform, to speedily regenerate towns and cities nationwide
- Invest in growth by freeing up investment and removing unnecessary red tape, reforming the out-dated business rates system and tackling debt to boost liquidity
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls, said: “If the Chancellor puts his faith in hospitality, the sector will repay it many times over. We have seen it time and time again – hospitality drives economic growth and creates jobs.
"I hope the collective voice of hospitality is enough to convince the Chancellor that his actions on 15th March will, quite literally, be make or break for many venues across the country.”