Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a new jobs support scheme to support wages and help firms employ people on shorter hours.
The Government will top up the wages of workers covering up to two thirds of their hours for next six months, while VAT on hospitality and tourism will be held at 5 per cent until the end of March.
The Meetings Industry Association said it was utterly dismayed by the new measures.
Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the mia, said: “The government’s ‘radical interventions’ have completely disregarded the business meetings and events sector and its valuable £70bn contribution to the economy.
“Our sector needs targeted measures and they were simply not there in Rishi Sunak’s statement. Venues have averaged a £2,398,600 loss of business to date and had their operations and revenue generation blocked by government. Despite this, they have continued to stand by their teams, yet the government is now making this impossible by not offering the sector targeted support.
“With the forced restrictions to only offer business meetings and events for up to 30 people, the majority of our sector is not even able to open – either because they do not qualify as a permissible venue, or they just do not have the required space to offer socially distanced events.
“Thousands of jobs across the UK are reliant on the business meetings and event sector. The new Jobs Support Scheme that will replace the furlough scheme when it ends on 31 October will be of little use to the sector.
Lex Butler, HBAA chair, said: “The Chancellor’s new measures are not enough to provide what all the agencies, venues and event services suppliers and their staff desperately needed to prevent some of them from closing or making thousands more staff redundant.
“Ahead of reviewing the specific details, we cautiously welcome the new Jobs Support Scheme, the plan for the Government to top up wages of workers covering up to two-thirds of their hours for next six months, deferred and interest free loan and tax repayments, and keeping VAT on hospitality and tourism to 5 per cent until the end of March; and it’s good to see that that the self-employed have not been forgotten.
“But since this week’s announced ‘pause’ on larger events being able to take place in the UK, there are too many businesses in our sector facing the prospect of no income or pipeline until well into 2021; they certainly can’t afford to take out loans, or keep staff on even for the reduced hours under the new scheme. Ultimately this is too little to pull them back from the brink and to keep them going, and HBAA will continue lobbying and campaigning for greater financial support.
“Despite today’s intervention by the Government, there will be further devastation of the sector, not only now but potentially for many years to come as so much talent is being lost from the industry.”
The Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), the Association of Event Venues (AEV) & the Association of Event Organisers (AEO) said: “This is a desperate day for the industry. The Chancellor's proposal today fails to give the UK events sector the support it so desperately needs, given that the majority of the events industry is still not permitted to resume until March 2021 at the earliest.
"A wage subsidy is of little use to any businesses that are unable to trade at all, in a sector that is facing an existential threat to its viability. Without targeted action the future looks bleak for 600,000 event professionals across the UK, and widespread business insolvencies and job losses are a certainty.”
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.
