As international Covid travel restrictions start to ease, the UK’s bars, restaurants and hotels anticipate the return of international tourists, however the severe staff shortages faced by many establishments seem set to stifle growth and potentially damage reputations. The number of hospitality vacancies has hit a record high in recent months. According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 164,000 jobs available in the sector between January and March 2022.
The pandemic has forced many hospitality workers to reassess their work priorities, and the challenge around working visas following Brexit is causing irrevocable damage. Before the pandemic, more than 30% of hospitality workers were believed to be non-UK European. In London, the figure was much higher: as many as 75% of hospitality workers were estimated to be from the EU.
Many of these workers left during the first national lockdown in March 2020, opting to sit out the pandemic in their home countries. This coincided with the UK exiting the EU while introducing a new raft of immigration rules for workers from the bloc. In order to work in the UK, EU citizens must apply for a Skilled Worker visa. To qualify, they must work in a profession that is on the Government’s list of “eligible occupations”. Most hospitality jobs – such as bar staff, front of house, waiting staff and spa therapists – aren’t on this list.
These hospitality shortages are already negatively impacting Britain’s reputation, and preventing the hospitality industry offering an elite and bespoke service to visitors who expect the highest standards of service. This could result in high-net-worth individual (HNWI) travellers choosing destinations such as Dubai over London. The challenge now is to get the balance right: the government has taken a new approach to granting visas, however this now needs to be reviewed, refined and adjusted in order to address the staffing shortages.
Urgent changes are needed to the working visa system. The Government should consider introducing measures to make visas more accessible for those coming to work in the UK in those industries most affected by labour shortages, namely hospitality and retail. This would be of considerable help to the hospitality industry, which saw a rise of almost 50,000 job vacancies in accommodation and food services in October 2021 compared to pre-Covid levels. By offering more working visas, the Government would allow hospitality venues across the UK to capitalise on the return of tourism and begin their recovery from the pandemic.
Hospitality workers should be reclassified as skilled, making it easier for EU workers to return to their former hospitality jobs. This will aid the sector, rebuild an increasingly tarnished service reputation and help revive the industry to pre-pandemic heights.
