Hospitality hit with 84,000 job losses since October
The UK hospitality sector has suffered 84,000 job losses since the October 2024 budget, new data has shown.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), hospitality is the industry hit hardest since October’s budget.
The 84,000 job losses across the industry account for almost half (45%) of all job losses. This represents a spike of 13,000 job losses a month.
Kate Nicholls, who was recently promoted to chair of UKHospitality, said: “These devastating job losses are a direct consequence of policy decisions at last year’s budget, which have disproportionately hit the hospitality sector.
“The change to employer NICs [National Insurance contributions], in particular, was socially regressive and had a disproportionate impact on entry-level jobs. Without a change of tack from the government, we could be looking at even more job losses in hospitality, when we should be bringing people into the jobs market.
“We desperately need to see action at the upcoming budget. We urge the government to act on our asks to fix NICs, by extending the existing exemptions to include both young people and people moving from welfare to work, which will boost jobs and help to reverse this huge loss.
“We also need to see lower business rates to revive high streets, and a VAT cut on hospitality to drive investment.
“We have seen time and time again that our sector is extremely capable of meeting the government’s growth and employment objectives, if given the optimal operational environment. This is why we need our asks met, before we are taxed out.”
The autumn budget last October was met with “fury” from members of the drinks industry. Despite lobbying efforts from the trade, alcohol duty was increased again in line with inflation following a double-digit hike the year prior.
Furthermore, the budget was used to announce that from April this year, employer NI contributions would be increased.
On the latest episode of The Spirits Business Podcast, Mangrove Global managing director Nick Gillett discussed the costs of the NI rise on businesses, among other challenges in the industry – and thoughts on how to remain profitable in a volatile economy.
Related news
Dead Rabbit Parlor menu ‘redefines hospitality’
