The UK hospitality industry could be perfectly placed to provide fulfilling careers and increased employment post-Brexit. UKHospitality is calling on Government for greater support on recruitment and skills development, and a reduction in employment costs.
Kate Nicholls, CEO, UKHospitality emphasised her personal support of the post-Brexit opportunity for the UK hospitality and catering industry recently at H&C EXPO. Nicholls joined industry leaders at the ‘Brand Britain in a post Brexit UK’ roundtable in July organised by Bartlett Mitchell’s Marketing Director Lin Dickens.
The Hospitality Workforce Commission 2030, a report by a group of All-Party Parliamentary Group chairs, makes several recommendations aimed to boost employment and retention in the sector. The inquiry was commissioned by UKHospitality, the trade body for hospitality operators.
The sector already employs 3.2 million people, right across the UK and is a major driver of social mobility. It offers many people their first job, skills development and a meritocratic career pathway. But it is a sector that faces labour and skills shortages and is keen to grow further with a need for talent.
The report follows a Select Committee-style series of Parliamentary evidence sessions scrutinising the challenges and opportunities being faced by employers, which heard from industry leaders, employees and MPs. A call for evidence resulted in 50 organisations and individuals contributing to the final report.
The Commission report calls on the Government to act decisively to help secure the future of the sector and boost the UK’s economy by:
- supporting a cross-industry campaign to tackle negative perceptions of a career in the sector;
- helping provide better quality information about opportunities in hospitality;
- collaborating with businesses to improve engagement between businesses and students.
In addition, UKHospitality is urging the Chancellor to increase the threshold for employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from £6,000 to £12,000 to stimulate greater recruitment and cut business costs. It is also critical the setting of the National Living Wage rate remains independent and non-politicised.
UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said: “The UK’s hospitality sector is a resilient and inventive one. It has helped provide growth, jobs and investment in every region and has been vital for the regeneration of UK high streets following turbulent economic periods. However, without Government support and immediate action on escalating employment costs, hospitality businesses will struggle to continue to provide these opportunities for people throughout the economic cycle.
“The recommendations in this report map a path to a post-Brexit hospitality workforce. It is recognised that free movement in its current form will end, and it is critical that Government supports the sector in promoting itself to young people and providing the framework for improved career development. The full potential of the sector will only be realised with positive action from the Government to ensure this is achievable.
“The Hospitality Workforce Commission 2030 exhaustively examined the opportunities and challenges that our sector faces and actions to be taken. If acted upon these will enable us to provide even greater investment, and provide more jobs, in communities across the UK. Implementing the recommendations will allow us to more effectively provide careers and opportunities, particularly for harder-to-place workers, and help the Government hit its apprenticeship target. With political and economic instability in the aftermath of Brexit, this is too good an opportunity for the Government to miss.
“I thank everyone who gave their time to contribute to this comprehensive investigation and I sincerely hope the Government acts upon our recommendations.”
Hospitality & Catering News backs UKHospitality’s call emphatically and we are actively working on developing the post-Brexit conference agenda at H&C EXPO in 2019. If you would like to contribute, please contact Denis Sheehan.
Harry Murray MBE, President of HOSPA and chairman of Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa took part in ‘Brand Britain in a post Brexit UK’ this July. In the video below Murray explains the post-Brexit opportunity for hospitality as he sees it, thank you Harry!
The ‘Brand Britain in a post Brexit UK’ Roundtable attendees 2018 were:
- Lin Dickens, Marketing Director, Bartlett Mitchell (chair)
- Tom Sensier, Managing Director, TM Electronics
- Sara Jayne Stanes, CEO, The Royal Academy of Culinary Arts
- Christopher Moore, CEO, The Clink Charity
- Julie Barker, director of Accommodation & Hospitality at the University of Brighton
- Aoife Kenny, Commercial Director, Enterprise Foods
- Daniel Nevitt, Group Marketing Director, Armourcoat
- Claire Lincoln, Sales Director, The Vintner
- Natalie Maher, Partner and CEO, Pollitt & Partners
- Jade Brennan, Head of Marketing, The Sustainable Restaurant Association
- Kate Nicholls, CEO, UKHospitality
- Harry Murray MBE, President of HOSPA and chairman of Lucknam Park Hotel and Spa
Full details of the 2018 ‘Brand Britain in a post Brexit UK’ Roundtable can be read in this article by Piers Zangana, Director, Susa Comms.
This article is the most read in H&C News 2018 so, we know this subject resonates with our 67,000 readership.