Since the budget was announced by the Chancellor in October last year, the hospitality industry has experienced in the region of 89,000 job losses. This amounts to over 50% of all redundancies which took place in that time frame, making the hospitality industry the hardest hit as a direct result of the recent budget.
Why has hospitality been so badly affected?
It is thought that the hospitality industry has been the main victim of tax-driven job cuts, principally because of the changes to the law relating to employers’ NICs – National Insurance Contributions – according to the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
This change had a particularly noticeable effect on part-time, flexible and seasonal employment, all of which are understandably very common in the hospitality industry since staffing requirements can fluctuate wildly through the week and the year, depending on customer demand. As a result, employers in the hospitality industry – which includes pubs, restaurants, hotels and bars – simply cannot afford as many staff as they would like.
Hospitality businesses benefit from the support of a reliable accountancy firm that can help them to navigate increasing costs, including accountants Bristol such as chippendaleandclark.com/accountants-near-me/bristol/.
Anger and frustration
It’s understandable that bosses and trade unions within the field are feeling highly frustrated about the situation and are calling for a reform to business rates, as well as the aforementioned NICs and VAT in the upcoming autumn budget. The hope is that further job losses can be prevented with swift action on the government’s part.