However, she warned the changes to national insurance contributions for employers in the Budget at the end of October was “the elephant in the room”.
Get Britain Working was launched on Tuesday (26 November) by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and is a bid to help get 2.8m people with a long-term sickness working again while one in eight young people are not in education, employment or training, and 9m adults lack basic skills to find employment.
Benefit to hospitality
UKHospitality CEO Kate Nicholls said: “Hospitality is proud to offer jobs for everyone – from working parents and students, to people with disabilities or those looking to re-enter the workforce.
“Many of the proposals in this white paper can benefit hospitality and further that work. The focus on young people, through the ‘youth guarantee’, is positive, particularly as hospitality gives so many people their first job and a path to progress from bar to board.”
The youth guarantee will offer training, an apprenticeship, or help to find work for all young people aged 18 to 21.
Nicholls added the commitment to overhaul the Jobcentre system as “encouraging”, saying that work must focus on the employment requirements of local businesses if it is to fully to benefit those communities.
Long-standing priority
She continued: “The transformation of the apprenticeship levy is a long-standing priority for hospitality and much needed. We now need to see a clear timetable for reform and that all relevant sectors are included in the testing of ‘foundation apprenticeships’.
“Hospitality can help the Government achieve its aim of getting those economically inactive back into employment and I would urge them to permanently roll out our skills pilot to accelerate this. That pilot was extremely successful, generating an 85% completion rate with 80% of people now employed in hospitality.
“While this white paper is largely positive, the elephant in the room is the detrimental impact the changes to employer national insurance contributions will have to employment in the sector. We need to see that urgently addressed with action to mitigate the impact on team members working lower hours.”