Chef vacancies need urgent attention, says UKH

UKHospitality (UKH) has urged the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to add chefs to the Shortage Occupation List in order to alleviate the persistent shortage that weighs heavy on the sector.

Responding to the MAC’s call for evidence, UKH highlighted that the sector had chef shortages ranging from 10% for head chefs, up to 21% for production chefs.

The trade body also requested that hospitality supervisors, which includes housekeepers and receptionists, along with sommeliers are reclassified to be eligible for the skilled visa route. Twenty percent of members have vacancies for hospitality supervisors and there are estimated to be up to 600 vacancies for sommeliers.

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls comments: "As we have continued to highlight, we need to have a pragmatic and sensible approach to immigration and that simply isn’t the case now.

"While the sector continues to invest significantly in growing its own talent, there needs to be changes to our immigration system to enable businesses to fill essential skills gaps.

"The Shortage Occupation List is a critical part of that and adding chefs to the list is a simple move that can have enormous benefits. In our evidence submitted to the MAC, we highlighted how a quarter of members told us they would restrict their trading hours if this level of chef vacancies continued. This is likely to be on top of cutbacks many businesses have already been forced to make.

"It’s not just chefs. Critical roles like supervisors, executive housekeepers and multi-lingual receptionists are all in high demand from the sector but they are just unable to be filled. A reclassification of these important roles to make them eligible for the skilled visa route would provide a massive boost.

"I’d urge the MAC to recognise the value hospitality can bring to the economy, when it’s operating at full strength, and grant our requests to help alleviate the devastating shortages that continue to plague our sector."

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