Responding to a series of consultations in the wake of the Taylor Review of modern working practices, the trade body has made a series of recommendations to provide a modernised framework of employment.
UKHospitality has called on the government to:
- Ensure a level-playing field for all businesses regardless of their business model
- Provide clear guidance for employers and individuals on their employment and taxation status
- Provide more transparency for workers and employers
- Support the extension of holiday pay reference periods to more accurately reflect working practices
- Maintain flexibility in the labour market for mutual benefit
- Make sure that businesses are not able to use differences in tax status as an incentive to employment
- Set out the core principles of employment status definitions in legislation but allow a degree of flexibility for complex cases
- Preserve the current three-tier system and rename the intermediary tier dependent contractors
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “The UK’s hospitality sector has been a fantastic engine for growth, providing jobs in every region of the country and revitalising high streets. However, the sector is facing considerable barriers to further growth and we need to see the government act decisively to ensure that employment is transparent and fair for both employers and employees.
“Businesses must continuously evolve to keep pace with changing consumer demand and legislative and cost pressures. Likewise, the environment in which businesses operative needs to allow flexibility and an opportunity for them to succeed. We have consistently advocated for the update of a tax system to reflect the demands and opportunities of 21st Century businesses and the wider approach to employment must also do this.
“Hospitality businesses need the flexibility to compete with online businesses in an environment that provides fairness to both employers and employees. The government has an opportunity to provide even greater opportunities for growth and success, but only if it provides community-based businesses and their teams with a platform from which to operate.”