Covid and Brexit: Hospitality industry 'desperately' short-staffed

A pub landlord says staff shortages in the hospitality industry are forcing him to close for up to two days a week.

Baz Butcher, of the White Hart of Wytham, Oxfordshire, is among thousands of bosses struggling with recruitment as a result of Brexit and Covid.

Oxford and Abingdon MP Layla Moran is calling for hospitality to be classed as a shortage industry to allow businesses to hire staff from overseas.

The Home Office said it encouraged employers to hire UK workers.

Mr Butcher said: "It's desperate. My staff have been working ridiculous hours but they were all suffering so I've had to take this decision to close and it's tragic."

He said many chefs left the industry while furloughed because they realised there was "more to life than working every weekend" but he added the main problem was Brexit.

He said: "It was well known that the hospitality industry relied on 70% of its workers from EU nationals. I suspect in Oxford the figure was even higher."

Claire Harvey, owner of Pierre Victoire restaurant in Oxford, said her business had been forced to close at lunchtimes, after being "crucified" by the second lockdown.

She said: "Being a French restaurant, we employed French, Spanish, Italian [staff] - they went home to be near their families and - because you have to be resident on the 31 December to apply for settled status - now they can't come back.

"We had two French girls come in the other day. They were trained and had experience, but they were not permitted to work."

Ms Moran said: "All it would take is a tweak to the system to say that hospitality is a shortage industry and you would then be able to hire who you needed from anywhere in the world.

"It would be the lifeline to many of our clubs, bars, hotels in this country."

In a statement, the Home Office said more than five million foreigners had secured rights to remain in the UK through the EU Settlement Scheme.

It said employers should make jobs more attractive to UK workers by improving training, career pathways, pay and working conditions, rather than relying on migrants.

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