Helping Hospitality
The UK hospitality industry of restaurants, pubs, cafés, hotels and venues is said to be on its knees. It faces a mix of cost pressures, labour shortages, and uncertain demand. The measures that would help most tend to fall into several high-impact areas.
Tax and cost relief would have the highest immediate impact. Most important might be reduced VAT on hospitality. A lower VAT rate of perhaps 10-12.5% might be introduced for food, accommodation, and attractions. This would directly improve margins or allow lower prices. It was one of the most effective pandemic-era supports and remains a top industry request of the UK Government and HM Treasury by industry bodies.
Although business rates reduction is touted, studies show its incidence fall mainly on pub-owners, not operators. We could, however, replace or permanently reform business rates, which disproportionately hit high-street venues, and move toward a turnover- or profit-linked system to reflect real trading conditions.
Targeted energy relief would undoubtedly help, since hospitality is energy-intensive for kitchens, refrigeration, and heating.
Employer National Insurance relief would be a huge help. Temporary reductions or thresholds for hospitality employers would help offset rising wage costs. So would minimum wage exemptions.
Workforce and skills solutions could include a hospitality visa route, with a flexible, sector-specific visa or shortage occupation pathway for chefs, kitchen staff, and hotel workers to ease chronic shortages.
The Apprenticeship Levy could be simplified to allow unused funds to be spent more flexibly on short, practical training, including support for management, digital, and sustainability skills, not just entry-level roles.
Advertising and promotions could stimulate consumer confidence. Domestic tourism incentives might include campaigns and vouchers encouraging UK staycations, dining, and cultural visits to boost footfall, especially outside London.
Or paramount importance would be lower alcohol duty in pubs. Targeted duty relief for draught beer and cider sold in pubs would help them to compete with supermarkets and promote community venues and rural businesses.
Easier planning and licensing would undoubtedly make life easier. We might streamline outdoor seating permissions and late-opening licenses. And we could reduce compliance duplication across food safety, employment law, and local authority inspections.
Which of these measures would make the biggest impact? If prioritised, many industry bodies argue the biggest impact would come from reduced VAT for hospitality, lower alcohol duty in pubs, national insurance reductions, and targeted workforce visas and training flexibility.
Of course, all of these measures will be opposed by the current government, the Treasury and HMRC. Their spreadsheets are designed to wring every last penny from an industry already on its knees. But if we wish to save a vital part of our culture and heritage and boost our sense of community, it might be time to override them.
Madsen Pirie