Speaking at the UK Hospitality Workforce and Skills Event in London, Alison McGovern, minister for employment with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), recognised the importance of hospitality as an employer, employing people from “all backgrounds, and skill levels”.
“That’s why it’s so important to our mission in DWP,” she told the conference while announcing the expansion of the hospitality Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.
She said the scheme would roll out to 26 new areas, with a focus on coastal towns and areas, following a successful pilot which delivered an 85% completion rate, with 80% of those completing securing employment in hospitality businesses.
Social mobility story
She acknowledged that 99% of hospitality businesses are SMEs and employs more than 2m people. “It offers the chance to develop skills and the opportunity to build a better life no matter where in the country you live - it’s that social mobility story that hospitality has to offer, and that’s as important as some of the work you do in our communities that have the poorest outcomes in employment.
“And that is why hospitality is so important in tackling the inequality that exists in our labour market right now.
“Our long-term ambition is to get 80% employment rate in this country, and if we’re going to do that, we need to fill those vacancies, including those in hospitality, getting good people into good work everywhere.”
She highlighted the fact there were 90,000 vacancies across the hospitality sector. “I want to help people get into those jobs and support great hospitality businesses.”
However, she pointed out that Government systems were not good enough. “I want to be honest with you and say that I know that the DWP doesn’t necessarily have the greatest reputation at the moment with businesses or with the people that we want to serve.”
Specific actions
McGovern added: “Liz Kendall and I are determined to change that, because in every town and city of this country, we’ve got job centres that should be serving businesses. We’ve got thousands of amazing work coaches who are full of passion and expertise and they’re desperate to help people who are out of work into a good job.
“But at the moment, they’re working in a system that’s letting them down, which means we’re letting the whole country down and we’re making it much more difficult for business to get the staff they need.
“We know that only one in six businesses uses their local job centre to recruit, and that’s just not good enough. So we’re going to do everything we can to turn that situation on its head and make sure that the DWP serves businesses in this country, large and small, now.”
She said they would be taking a series of specific actions to make that happen, including providing a single point of reference to improve interactions and they’ve set up a team dedicated to serving employers and their needs, providing recruitment support including “tailored campaigns to full vacancies”.
She added: “I’m excited to work with you all to see hospitality grow and change people’s lives for the better.”
