UK Furlough Scheme Extension Not Enough to Save Hospitality Businesses - Trade Association
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's decision earlier on Thursday to extend the government's coronavirus-related furlough scheme through to March will not be enough to help many hospitality businesses survive, Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UK Hospitality - the country's largest trade association for the sector - said on Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th November, 2020) UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's decision earlier on Thursday to extend the government's coronavirus-related furlough scheme through to March will not be enough to help many hospitality businesses survive, Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UK Hospitality - the country's largest trade association for the sector - said on Thursday.
On the same day as a four-week nationwide lockdown began in England, Sunak announced that the furlough scheme, which sees the government pay 80 percent of wages, up to a maximum of 2,500 Pounds ($3,275) per month, for employees unable to work due to the pandemic.
"We will need enhanced grant support to keep venues alive and a solution to the ongoing rent debt problem that continues to linger over the sector. These must come alongside a clear roadmap for a return to business. Without these, the extended furlough scheme alone is not enough to keep hospitality alive and will have been a wasted investment of public funds," Nicholls said in a press release.
Despite this, the extension of the furlough scheme will be essential in maintaining jobs in the beleaguered sector over the following months, the UK Hospitality CEO stated.
"Extending the furlough scheme is a big boost and will help secure hospitality jobs in the medium term across the whole of the UK," Nicholls remarked.
The hospitality sector is the third-largest private-sector employer in the United Kingdom, comprising 10 percent of the country's jobs.
As many as 90 percent of the UK's COVID-secure hospitality businesses were operating at a loss prior to the announcement of the second lockdown in England, the trade association has said.
The UK Department of Health and Social Care registered 25,177 new COVID-19 cases and 492 new deaths on Wednesday. According to public health officials, more than 1.09 million positive tests and 47,742 deaths have been reported in the UK since the start of the pandemic.