Rachel Reeves is expected to today announce a business rates support package worth about £100m a year for pubs, but without help for wider hospitality.
The Chancellor’s announcement will follow a warning from UKHospitality that the average pub faces payed £7,000 extra in business rates by 2029.
UKHospitality has also lobbied for support to be extended to the whole sector. However, the Chancellor signalled earlier in January that pubs would be the focus. “We want to support our pubs,” she told BBC Breakfast. “We want to support our high streets, and we’re doing that.”
The relief is also expected to be temporary. The announcement is expected today, the FT reported.
UKHospitality renewed its call for support for the sector last week, saying over 9,000 jobs had already been lost in the sector since the November budget.
Isabelle Shepherd, partner at City accountancy firm HaysMac, said: “This relief package is undoubtedly more welcome than the status quo, but providing a temporary cap shows a lack of courage. One of the biggest issues the hospitality sector has faced is a lack of certainty and clarity. This temporary cap only locks in more uncertainty and will create more future fears. The hospitality sector needs a permanent resolution to the level of excessive costs it is faced with.
“The lack of clarity in government messaging over recent weeks and the endless series of u-turns has only compounded worries and muddied the waters,” Shepherd added.
“The entire hospitality sector faces the same issues as pubs, and the government’s messaging led many to be hopeful that help was coming.
“It would have been better not to have raised hopes.”
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