Now we have got a new chancellor and government, with the incoming budget there’s a crucial chance to re-set what is an increasingly dire situation in hospitality.
Many of us voted for change to bring this new government in. However, the expectation of increased National Insurance contributions for employers only and talk of changing tax thresholds and living wage increases sends alarm bells ringing in the hospitality sector, which desperately need recalibration.
There’s an ongoing climate of uncertainty with closures of all kinds of hospitality businesses each week – shutting down for good because they can’t make their businesses add up any more. Turnover remains relatively the same broadly speaking for many operators I know both here in Liverpool and around the UK, but the reality is that making this turnover profitable is getting harder each day.
We need an urgent recalibration in tax for hospitality, which generated £54bn in tax receipts in 2022. In Liverpool, the tourism industry – with hospitality forming a huge part – was worth £6.25bn in 2023. For a city with hospitality in its DNA, we need to increase this each year; the question remains how do we here, and across the UK, make this happen?
Because we continue to face an incredibly demanding, draining and difficult set of circumstances. So unless the government really listens, we will see more closures and more redundancies. How many other fresh food-led businesses need to close to make the new government realise that they aren’t allowing the hospitality industry to grow, invest, employ and quite frankly survive?
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