Business

Call to extend Job Retention Scheme to phase in return of staff

EMPTY PUBS: Tourism and hospitality have been catastrophically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic
EMPTY PUBS: Tourism and hospitality have been catastrophically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic EMPTY PUBS: Tourism and hospitality have been catastrophically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic

THE head of a tourism body in the north insists the government's Job Retention Scheme needs to be extended so staff can return to work gradually while businesses recover.

Joanne Stuart, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance, speaking before Stormont Economy Committee, also described the impact of Covid-19 on the industry as "absolutely catastrophic".

Her comments came as figures from Tourism NI, drawn from a survey of 1,300 businesses and organisations, found that 427 businesses had furloughed nearly 9,000 staff while nearly 1,300 people had been permanently made redundant.

Tourism has been devastated by the lockdown on pubs, hotels and visitor attractions ordered last month to limit the spread of the virus.

Dr Stuart said: "We need a tapered approach to the furlough scheme, and the initiative should allow employers to bring staff back to work in a phased manner."

The furlough scheme - where the government pays 80 per cent of wages of workers up to £2,500 a month, went live on Monday.

By midnight on Tuesday, 309,000 claims were made in Northern Ireland covering 2,200,000 employees at a value of £2.6 billion.

Employers can apply for cash grants through HMRC's new online portal, with the money expected to arrive in bank accounts within six working days.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak recently announced the scheme will be extended for a further month until the end of June to reflect continuing lockdown measures, but Ms Stuart said the tourism industry was seeking support to extend it beyond then.

"Tourism has been on a growth projection in the last decade but was hit first by the pandemic in February with cancellations from the Asian market, and then the industry came to a complete standstill in March," she told the committee.

"We were expecting a record year in 2020 on the back of the success of the Open and the 'Embrace The Giant Spirit' campaign, and businesses had invested accordingly.

"But income has dropped to zero, and while the support measures the UK government and NI Executive have been a lifeline, the challenge has been length of time between the announcement and getting cash into people's accounts."

She said that with no income coming in, businesses were still trying to cover maintenance and customer refunds.

Ms Stuart - who reiterated calls for the three-month business rates holiday to be extended to a full year as it applies in Britain - said she expected it to be the end of the year before the international visitor market was restored following disruption to the airline industry.