Speaking at the recent UKH Summer Conference, chair Kate Nicholls flagged the Government pledge to temporarily reduce VAT on children’s meals and activities over the summer and said that was an opportunity the sector should embrace, despite the limitations.
Join our new WhatsApp channel: The Morning Round-Up
Get the biggest pub trade stories straight to your phone. Listen to our one-minute daily news briefing and receive breaking news, exclusives and sector updates throughout the day. Remember to turn notifications on in the top right corner!
“The VAT cut for children doesn’t go far enough for everybody in this room, but it’s a good first step that the Government recognised the VAT cut is a critical driver to get back to growth.”
The sector needs to look beyond the headlines, she continued: “It is not kids meals, it is under 18’s. There are nine million families in the UK with one or more children under the age of 18.
Right approach
“There are big consumer opportunities and many of the young people are aged 11 to 18, and they are the ones that drive where they choose to go and eat and are increasingly eating out.
“So, this summer is an opportunity to capture our consumers of the future and get them used to coming back and eating and drinking out.”
And she added it was an opportunity to demonstrate to Government that VAT was a lever worth pulling: “It establishes the principle by Government that VAT is the right approach to take if you want to have a success at pace and turn things around at pace.
“Cut vat and the sector will start to deliver, and it will feed through positively
Full potential
“If you cut the VAT on one day, people will come out and eat and drink out and go out on family day trips the next day, and we will need to create jobs.
“So, we will be gathering the data that proves the fact cutting VAT was the right thing to do and was successful in and of itself.
“We are continuing to make the case for the broader VAT cut the sector as the whole needs to make sure it is comprehensive and brings us in line with Europe and that will help to unlock hospitality’s full potential.”
