Should hospitality be furloughed again this winter?

[User135644]

The energy crisis is going to be catastrophic and there's no cap for businesses. If we do nothing basically the vast majority will be forced to shut and then we've got support people with benefits etc and less tax revenue.

Given people are already going to be hard up, could we just furlough all the pubs and restaurants for the winter while we try to work out a solution to this madness? I'd hate to see all the pubs shut for good otherwise.

Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul. There needs to be a long term plan to reduce energy bills.

I've been 'final hurrah'ing' it all summer but even I have admitted its time to stop spending money on going out and consumer crap.

I think if you’re worried about your job OP, you should start looking for another one now.

We can’t ‘just furlough all the pubs’ Should we pay your fuel bills whilst you’re furloughed at home?

It won't be another furlough. We've had recessions and massive unemployment before without anyone implementing a furlough scheme. It's cheaper to pay UC than 80% of salary, or direct people to unpopular infilled vacancies. I think financial support should focus on subsidising bills, whether that's direct payments or reduction of tax, for private residences, public sector (schools, hospitals, libraries) and small businesses.

No.

I happened to hear a segment on radio 5 about hospitality this morning. Lots of ideas thrown around but the bottom line is the industry will need support. They were saying manufacturers and other heavy users of energy have had more support with VAT and business rates. Yes lots of small business will suffer but pubs, small hotels and cafes can’t even get energy quotes at the moment. Pretty scary.

I think there'd be a bit of an outcry if hospitality staff sat at home on 80% salary while hairdressers, retail staff etc all suffered. It's definitely going to be tough. I've seen recessions, high inflation and rocketing interest rates, ridiculous fuel costs etc but never all of those things at once. I wonder what society will look like on the other side of it all.

Until we can grow magic money trees, no we cannot furlough everyone. If there are no jobs, there is a benefit system to deal with that. It is very undesirable clearly but why should 1 person be furloughed and getting so much more than another who is unemployed? We can't afford it in terms of money, not in terms of making tiers of benefits.

Scary because they can't pass the costs on to the customers, as they'll be disappearing as the recession progresses.

Why would you do that? I want to go to pubs and restaurants this winter!

Of course not.

Not everyone is struggling either, though I know that's unpopular to say on here.

Of course we can't do that. Hospitality needs some help to cap it's bills, like everyone else. Furlough isn't it and is hideously expensive. People need to run their businesses to try and make a living, not be forced to close down.

You do sound rather melodramatic. Yes, things will be difficult, but people need support, not doom-mongering.

Same here, at least at the moment. We went for a pub meal last night and the place was heaving.

If the restaurants will be forced to shut, do you suggest we pay furlough for these people for ever? Furlough was a short term "solution" for a one off major problem. It shouldn't be pulled out for every inconvenience. It costs billions and doesn't actually solve the underlying problem.

Unless Liz Triss gets her thinking cap on we're going to be in an awful mess!

Care homes - how are they going to pay their energy bills, with laundry cooking heating, paying their staff so they can heat their homes,

Schools - how are they going to pay their heating bills & pay all their staff with no increase in budgets

Hospitals - how are they going to pay their bills!

You just can't imagine how this is going to be fixed!

We tried to book a table at a large and fairly expensive pub (main courses around £18) for dinner on a Tuesday night, but it was fully booked. Managed to book for the following week and it was busy but we managed to get the last two person table.

Good point!

Anyone that was furloughed must have found it tough. If you both work in hospitality, you lose 40% of your income. Benefits won take that you for people who have mortgages and financial commitments based on their salary

Not round here. All seem busy and pretty normal to me.

I went past a Costa Coffee shop inside Tesco today and it was packed, with the queue out and along past the checkout tills.

Honestly, some people do just love a bit of doom and gloom.

What benefits bill? There are loads of jobs. Pubs and restaurants are hardly the most critical sectors, are they? Perhaps their staff can fill some of the vacant positions in other sectors.

Where the hell is the money for all of this coming from - we need to pay for the last lot of furloughs (not to mention eat out to help out), loans to businesses, subsidies for fuel etc etc. If this will come from PAYE it won't be worth working soon!!!!

Yes let's just cripple the economy even further #not

Christ, no

Every sector is in trouble. Not just hospitality.

Hospitality business. Furlough will do nothing. The bills will still be there. Unless you mean actually pay the businesses to close in which case that's just not possible. It is a very concerning situation but one way to help is to get the bloody energy companies under control.