Hospitality skills scheme can help people back into employment

The pre-employment programmes for hospitality, led by UKHospitality and the Department for Work and Pensions, worked together with training providers and businesses to help people currently unemployed into new roles in hospitality. 

The pilot delivered an 85% completion rate, with 80% of those finding employment in the sector. 

The call for wider rollout comes as new figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the economic inactivity rate has grown to 22.2%, while the number of vacancies in hospitality has continued to fall and now stands at 100,000. 

Tackling the workforce crisis

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, comments: "With the number of economically inactive increasing, the government should look to hospitality as a sector that has a track record of helping people of varied ages, backgrounds and skillsets into employment. 

"Our skills pilot with the Department for Work and Pensions was designed specifically to help those not working into new jobs and it was incredibly effective, with eight in 10 successful participants securing a job.

"A permanent rollout of that pilot could be transformational in helping people into work and would allow hospitality to help the government deliver its target of an 80% employment rate.

"Hospitality provides jobs for everyone, and this scheme can help get people back into work, as well as bearing down on persistent vacancies in the sector."

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