The trade bodies have urged the Government to provide a six-month investment plan to help secure the future of the hospitality, pub and supply chain businesses. The letter states that without the support there will be ‘significant’ job losses.

The letter calls for:

• Employment support guaranteeing 80% of wages to continue for businesses beyond the national lockdown, with flexible support available throughout the next six-months.
• A more sustainable round of grants in line with the first lockdown to adequately cover ongoing fixed costs, with payment as soon as possible. This must allow access to the full state aid allowance of €3 million per business – and potentially more once the UK is no longer subject to EU rules.
• An extension to the rent enforcement moratorium to June 2021 to protect businesses and bring partners to the table.
• A reduced rate of VAT for hospitality through the whole of 2021 and a business rates holiday for 2021/22.
• Investment in British brewing via beer duty support and a compensation scheme for brewers for unsold beer & returned stock.

In a joint statement, the trade bodies commented: “Hospitality businesses and pubs were the first hit by this crisis, and they have been the hardest hit. They have existed through nine months of forced closures or severe restrictions. The Government has recognised the unique challenges facing our sector and we are grateful of the support it has provided.

“It is not enough, though. Our sector has been hit with job losses and venue closures, with the pain being felt across the entire breadth of the industry down to supply chain businesses, which are also suffering.

“We are still on a knife-edge. Over 90% of fully COVID-secure, hospitality and pub businesses are operating at a loss, thousands of otherwise viable businesses in Tier 3 and Tier 2 areas had already closed. Debt continues to build to unsustainable levels and turnover is at a fraction of normal trading.

“We are entering this next phase of national lockdown in a critically vulnerable position. It makes sense for the Government to support hospitality and pub businesses as well as their supply chain partners.

“We can be in the vanguard of economic recovery next year, driving growth, creating jobs and providing billions in vital tax revenues into the future, but only if we survive this perilous moment.”

The hospitality sector, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, provided 3.2 million jobs across the UK and a further one million in dependent supply chains.

To read the letter to the UK Chancellor, click on the document below: