On 9 October Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Job Support Scheme (JSS) will be expanded to protect jobs and support businesses that are required to close their doors as a result of Coronavirus restrictions.
UKHospitality has welcomed the increase in grants for closed hospitality businesses (up to £3,000). The trade body has also called for a ‘more comprehensive package of support’ for the whole sector to cover rent and other overheads to ease strain on businesses.
UKHospitality has called on the Job Support Scheme (JSS) to remove employer contributions to preserve hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “Paying two-thirds of wages for employees in lockdown is a welcome step and it is encouraging to see that the Chancellor has introduced flexibility and a sector-specific approach into the JSS and recognises that this is an evolving situation.
“However, worryingly, it does nothing to address the issues faced by sector businesses operating well below capacity due to restrictions and consumers avoiding travel and struggling to keep their workforce employed.
“The curfew has been crippling for many hospitality businesses, with sales down around 30% even in areas of low infection. A more comprehensive support package for our businesses affected must follow swiftly if they are to survive the winter and avoid contributing to mass unemployment. If the Government is serious about saving jobs, it needs to rethink the mandatory curfew in areas where COVID rates are low.”
UKHospitality is the ‘authoritative voice’ for over 700 companies, operating 65,000 venues in a sector that employs over three million people.
Responding to the Chancellor’s announcement on support for businesses, FDF’s chief executive, Ian Wright, commented: “The Chancellor’s introduction of support for hospitality and other businesses forced to close by Government restrictions in locked-down areas is very welcome.
“It does not, however, address the difficulties for those suppliers to businesses which are forced to close. These - including many food manufacturers which provide meals, drinks and other products - are equally vulnerable to the impacts of Government measures.
“Through no fault of their own, they face being shut with no income. Without additional support for the supply chain throughout lockdown, many of these ‘squeezed middle’ suppliers will simply not survive.
“While many manufacturers are managing to adapt and find new routes to market, that just doesn’t work for others. When the Government is ordering businesses to close it is the duty of the Treasury to intervene at scale and with speed. Otherwise thousands of jobs, companies and livelihoods will be lost for ever.”