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.
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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.
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.”
