UKHospitality: Employment issues

Any help for contract caterers and the wider hospitality sector is to be welcomed at the moment, so new government grants for businesses that take on 18- to 24-year-olds is good news. The new scheme is also evidence that the government acknowledges that our industry is best placed to get people back to work, because its recently announced Youth Jobs Grant is modelled on proposals submitted by UKHospitality. We’ve been calling for exactly this sort of removal of barriers to enable businesses to get on and recruit more employees, so we’re pleased that this idea has been taken forward.

The Youth Jobs Grant will see companies receive a £3,000 payment for every person they take on aged 18 to 24 who is on benefits, and who has been seeking employment for more than six months. The grant is essentially the equivalent National Insurance Contribution (NIC) holiday for those hospitality businesses employing young people and will help to address what is a major cost for contract caterers.

From April, government-backed foundation apprenticeships, which see employers paid up to £2,000 in instalments, will be extended to the hospitality and retail sectors, too. Crucially, employees that are studying for apprenticeships are exempt from NICs, which will again directly reduce the costs of hiring early career workers.

By including our sector in foundation apprenticeships, the government is delivering on one of our key asks. It also means that there are now several financially supported pathways into work.

At a time when employment costs are increasing rapidly, engaging with the government to introduce incentives like the Youth Jobs Grant has been one of our key priorities, especially now that some management apprenticeships have been streamlined. It’s clear our calls to retain sector-specific standards across catering and hospitality have been acted upon, with the result that apprenticeships that are vital to our industry have been saved.

The Youth Jobs Grant is a great example of how close government liaison with business groups leads to measures and policies that are practical, cost-saving and work for employers. UKHospitality will continue this approach, to ensure that the government offers people of all ages opportunities to learn and develop skills in hospitality. We await further details on the specifics of the Youth Jobs Grant, but the government hopes it will support up to 60,000 young people into employment.

It has also been announced that an existing scheme – providing six months of subsidies for benefit claimants who’ve been seeking employment for 18 months – will be extended from this autumn to include people up to 24-years-old, rather than just those aged up to 21.

All these positive changes will, I’m sure, be welcomed by contract caterers and the wider hospitality sector, because they can have an important impact on the cost of hiring and training early career team members for your business. At the same time, it will hopefully encourage businesses to begin recruiting again, at a time when they’ve been understandably reluctant to take on new staff.

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