The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that UK unemployment hit 4.8% in the last three months to September, and redundancies reached 314,000 during the same period.
While data only shows what has happened, it seems safe to assume that businesses fearing the end of the furlough scheme, made people redundant in anticipation of it. As it transpired the furlough scheme was renewed and is now in place until the end of March 2021, but that can’t set clocks back, or reinstate jobs.
The number of people out of work also unsurprisingly rose by nearly a quarter of a million in the same period, the highest increase since May 2009.
The scope and scale of the economic shock experienced in the UK in 2020 would under ‘normal’ conditions, without the unprecedented intervention seen from the government, expect to witness far higher impact casualties.
So, the recent delay to the continuation of the furlough scheme has cost jobs and the failure of many businesses, but sits alongside actions by the same government in Spring and Summer that have saved many more in both categories. The overall navigation of the economy in 2020 to date does offer scorecard interpretations a plenty.
But what next, what does the future hold, and what is the outlook on the future of the hospitality industry.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan yesterday was bleak in his predictions, unless more support for hospitality is delivered.
Khan said: “Latest figures show that London has had the largest quarterly increase in the unemployment rate in at least 30 years.
“Businesses in London’s retail, hospitality and cultural sectors still require more support until an operational vaccine is widely available, and we see a return to significant levels of international tourism.
“The Government must ensure that all of London’s venues at risk of closure get the grants they need to cover their rent and bills, and stay afloat. As I’ve been saying since the start of this crisis, with the right support in place further mass unemployment is not inevitable.”
As hospitality businesses face ongoing closure through lockdown, seeing zero cashflow and maintained costs, further substantial rises in business failure and unemployment are certain.
Further hospitality specific intervention is essential, it needs to be announced before, and enacted from 3rd December.
Too many fundamentals of business and economics have been trying to be stood on their heads for too long. It has been ongoing, and even if balance sheets aren’t being updated, numbers can’t be hidden for long. Without more substantial help reality will bite, and it will bite deeply when plates, no longer able to spin, topple.
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Hospitality & Catering News: hospitality industry failure UK – 11 November 2020 – hospitality industry failure UK.
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