Chancellor slashes VAT for hospitality industry and launches his ‘plan for jobs’

The Government is to cut VAT for the hospitality industry to 5% and introduce an “eat out to help out” discount scheme for diners as part of its plans to restart the economy.

The measures came as part of a wider programme to limit mass unemployment in the months ahead.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said “the job has only just begun” as he unveiled his own “plan for jobs” this lunchtime.

Sunak told Parliament: “I will never accept unemployment as an unavoidable outcome.”

He detailed a “£4bn catalyst for the hospitality and tourism sector” by slashing VAT for those businesses by three-quarters on food, accommodation and attractions for the next three months.

He also launched a new scheme, “eat out to help out”, which will give a £10-per-head discount for every diner eating out between Monday-Wednesday in August.

Participating businesses will be able to claim the money back each week and have the funds in their account within days, the Chancellor said.

However this deal was not necessarily enough, with Sheffield City Region mayor, Dan Jarvis, commenting: “Rather than a ‘meal deal’, what we really needed to see was a ‘New Deal’ for the North – a radical shift of powers and resources away from Westminster and Whitehall to South Yorkshire and the North, so that through devolution, we create a stronger, greener, fairer economy and society.”

The hospitality sector had 1.4m workers furloughed and remains under huge pressure but Sunak encouraged consumers to find “that new balance between safety and normality”.

Sunak, who has been Chancellor for less than five months, also sought to find a new balance between huge financial support from Government that is deemed necessary and the traditional economic thinking his Conservative predecessors in Number 11.

The Government has already spent £35bn on furloughed and self-employed workers and guaranteed business loans worth nearly £45bn.

Sunak confirmed the furlough scheme would wind down as previously announced, ending in October.

But he launched a new jobs retention bonus that is potentially a £9bn policy to retain people in work.

“If you stand by your workers, we will stand by you,” said Sunak.

Businesses that bring a furloughed worker back will receive a £1,000 bonus if the employee is paid an average of at least £520 per month from November to January.

He confirmed the well-trailled kickstarter scheme, a £2bn programme to pay the wages of 16-24 year-olds starting new jobs that provide training and support.

There were further financial measures for employers taking on apprentices and trainees.

This aspect was welcomed by Stephanie Burras CBE, chief executive of Ahead Partnership, a social enterprise working with young people to identify career paths and inspire change within sectors. She said: “The focus being placed on skills in the chancellor’s statement is welcome and could provide the impetus that businesses of all sizes require at this time. A ‘skills focussed recovery’ from COVID-19, which puts training and enterprise at the heart of plans, is vital for our country’s economic prosperity.

Adding, “Never has the private sector’s role within education and in meeting the skills challenges of the country been more important.”

Unemployed people will also be supported, with the DWP getting £1bn to support people back to work alongside funding to double the number of careers advisors.

Other economic stimulus measures were confirmed by the Chancellor in his 25-minute summer economic statement.

A £3bn green investment designed to cut carbon and create jobs will provide vouchers for up to £5,000 for people to insulate their homes while £1bn will be spent on public buildings.

Sunak also increased the stamp duty threshold to £500,000 to March 31, which will take effect immediately. The average cut is worth £4,500 but purchasers can save up to £15,000.

For Nick Garthwaite, MD of Bradford based Christeyns and chair of the West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce the news today was mainly positive but he felt more could be done, stating: “The Government should be preparing new incentives for business investment in the UK, including extending the £1 million Annual Investment Allowance for a further two years and broadening its scope to include training, the transition to net zero and spending on making workplaces Covid-secure .”