MONEY
Pubs are pleading for students, furloughed and out-of-work Brits to save our summer by filling job vacancies
PUBS, restaurants and hotels are pleading for students, furloughed and out-of-work Brits to save our summer — and fill job vacancies.
A staffing crisis means some venues will not have enough workers to reopen a week on Monday, when Covid restrictions are eased.
🔵 Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates
1
About 650,000 workers have left the hospitality industry during the pandemic and many will not return because they want more job security.
Others went home to the EU and cannot return because of Brexit.
Pubs also report a rush of workers resigning the day they return to work, after delaying giving notice so they could benefit from furlough pay.
Some venues made staff redundant in lockdown and now cannot recruit enough — and table service means pubs’ workforces must double in size.
FLICKS ARE BACK
Vue to reopen 88 cinemas on May 17 – how to book tickets NOW
BACK IN BUSINESS
List of businesses to reopen on Monday including outdoor pools and golf
IN IT TO WIN IT
Enter our competition to win £5,000 to help your start-up
RETAIL CHANGE
Debenhams to close all stores and 12,000 jobs lost as Boohoo buys website
OFFLINE
Is Sky internet down? How to check the status in your area
And even more hotel staff are needed to cope with a UK staycation boom. Steven Alton, boss of the British Institute of Innkeeping, said: “We’d encourage students and people unemployed after losing jobs in other industries to apply in hospitality.”
The UK hospitality industry’s 2.3million workforce of a year ago — including furloughed staff — has fallen by 28 per cent, analysts Fourth say.
Kate Nicholls, who runs UKHospitality, said: “Some have been on furlough and taken a job in another sector, and now say they don’t want to return.”
The Sun says
WHEN Covid first struck, the main economic fear was mass unemployment.
But the Government’s rescue plan kept countless firms and jobs alive.
And the real problem, it turns out, is that pubs, hotels and restaurants cannot recruit fast enough to reopen on May 17.
We’d rather see a glut of vacancies than four million on the dole.
But those empty jobs are still a nightmare the hospitality trade must resolve in days.
Millions could be eligible. But recruitment agencies claim they don’t have the skills. So train them . . . quickly.
And if you need work, look no further than your local. Be ready to learn fast.
Facebook reveals secret tricks it uses to spot if YOU are a social media ‘predator’
Last chance Christmas PS5 restocks at PlayStation Direct and Smyths Toys NOW
Woman’s bedroom is entirely covered in PrettyLittleThing bags after Black Friday haul
I was so sad and lost I thought about taking my own life, says X Factor winner Louisa Johnson
I’m a child behaviour expert and this is how to get your kids to behave when the relatives are round this Christmas
