Jobcentres are ordered to launch a hospitality recruitment drive to tackle 188,000-worker shortage in the hospitality sector

• Coaches from Jobcentre Plus will be running sessions on the hospitality sector
• It comes after UK Hospitality found there were around 188,000 vacancies
• UK Hospitality and the Department for Work & Pensions have now teamed up
• The sessions are expected to encourage those in need of work into the sector 

Jobcentres have launched a hospitality recruitment drive to try to tackle the 188,000-worker shortage in the hospitality sector.

Work coaches from Jobcentre Plus will be running sessions on working in hospitality in every region of England, as well as across Scotland and Wales.

UK Hospitality (UKH) and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) teamed up to face the rising crisis.

It comes after the UKH analysis found a vacancy rate in the hospitality industry of nine per cent – equal to around 188,000 jobs.

It found 80 per cent of the businesses surveyed had vacancies for front of house positions, meaning waiting and bar staff, while 85 per cent were looking for chefs.

Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP, said: ‘It’s been a challenging time for the hospitality sector but our roadmap is giving employers the confidence to hire, and our brilliant Work Coaches are helping them recruit local talent.’

She added: ‘At the same time, our Plan for Jobs is levelling up opportunity across the UK, supporting workers of all ages to retrain, build new skills, and get back into work as we push to build back better.’

Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin called for a ‘reasonably liberal immigration system’ to help fill jobs yesterday.

Mr Martin wants the Prime Minister to set up a visa scheme to allow workers from EU countries to easily come back and work in the UK.

He has clarified the JD Wetherspoon group is not currently suffering from staff shortages.

Meanwhile, the boss of Best Western, Rob Paterson, revealed some of its hotels have not been able to open to full capacity because there aren’t enough cleaners.

Workers either returned to the EU during lockdown or have been happily ‘sitting on furlough’ and earning 80 per cent of their pay while enjoying the sunshine, according to a Chamber of Commerce chief.

Suzanne Caldwell, managing director of the Chamber of Commerce in Cumbria, said other workers ‘are just not here’ after returning to families in the EU when their job security plummeted because of frequent lockdowns.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKH, said: ‘We’re delighted to be working with the government to restore confidence in a sector which is a stable employer for millions of skilled and unskilled workers across a wide range of diverse roles, and which can play a constructive role in tackling unemployment.’

The original version of this article was first published in The Daily Mail Online

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