Business events and hospitality need a Plan B for Events immediately to avoid potentially devastating effects of the new restrictions in England, trade associations have said.
The prime minister announced the move to Plan B restrictions in England, including Covid passes for nightclubs and large events, the return of work from home guidance and further mask-wearing, in a bid to curb the effects of the Omicron variant in England.
Maintaining the lower level of VAT and extending the Kick Start are essential to sustain newly-created jobs, according to the HBAA.
Juliet Price, consultant executive director of HBAA beam, said: “We called for the reduced level of VAT paid by the sector to continue beyond April 2022 and the extension of the Kick Start as Plan B4E – Plan B for Events - in October before the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement as advance support in anticipation of Plan B.
“Business events and hospitality now need this support immediately to prevent newly created jobs from being lost again.
“There are already clear signs of another knock back to event planner confidence in booking and running live events. Now that the instruction to work from home again and compulsory mask wearing are being reintroduced widely, we know from bitter experience in early 2020 that the sector will immediately suffer more substantial financial issues and jobs will come under threat. Live events will quickly become commercially less viable and more likely to return to virtual or are cancelled.
“With the onus on whether to continue with events now with the corporate client, they face cancellation charges – but without event insurance to cover them.
“This will not be a short term hit; the industry will feel the consequences of this knock back well into 2022. A knock back like this would be a disaster for the hundreds of agencies, venues and service providers who are just starting to recover after struggling to survive over the last 18 months.
“An immediate announcement that the reduced level of VAT paid by the sector will continue beyond April 2022 would be valuable for financial planning. Extending the Kick Start end date would encourage and help employers to retain new staff aged 18 to 24 even if business is reduced.
“The business events industry needs this ‘Plan B4E’ from the Chancellor now to save jobs that are vulnerable as Plan B is being introduced.”
The Meetings Industry Association (mia) said the prime minister’s Plan B announcement will have a devastating impact on the sector.
Kerrin MacPhie, chief executive of the mia, said: “Based on the latest scientific data we understand that the Plan B restrictions will need to be put in place, to help reduce the transmission of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
“However, this will have a devastating impact on business meetings and events. We know from some initial research conducted just last week, Omicron has already had an immediate impact on client confidence and future bookings.
“We will continue to listen to our members to fully understand the impact and the needs of the sector.”
M&IT editor Paul Harvey is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience. He began his career in the local press, working for various titles across the north. Since joining M&IT in 2013, he has become a trusted and respected voice in the sector, championing event professionals and reporting on all aspects of the events industry for the brand.
