Food services skills shortage

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WORKPLACE SKILLS

Facing skills shortages in food services

by Herpreet Kaur Grewal

There has recently been much discussion about staff shortages in catering, hospitality and food services in the coming year as the consequences of a global pandemic and Brexit hit the sectors.

Data analysed by catering analyst Taf Consultancy indicates that nine in 10 contract caterers are facing shortages this year. The data also shows that 51 per cent of businesses anticipate further shortages across all roles (with 39 per cent concerned only about back-of-house roles).

What this scenario has also exposed is an ongoing lack of adequate training in these sectors. Research by the City & Guilds Group has even suggested that older workers, undertrained in general by businesses, could now be used to plug some of these skills gaps. The Office for National Statistics added weight to this argument recently when analysis of data showed that allowing older people to adapt to new patterns of working such as remote working prolongs their presence in the workforce.

Adele Oxberry, CEO of Umbrella Training, told Facilitate that this longrunning problem precedes the pandemic.

“It [the lack of investment in training] had started before the pandemic but, as a consequence of new government priorities since the pandemic, has accelerated,” explains Oxberry, adding that “Government initiatives to support a world post-pandemic, such as the Plan for Jobs and Lifetime Skills Guarantee, do not recognise the hospitality skills challenge as a priority. Hospitality and catering as a sector, continues Oxberry, “has been pushed further back in the queue for any investment by the government”. Demand plays a huge part in this, Oxberry adds. “The sector has a historically poor reputation in parts and

Labour demand for jobs isn’t shortages and always high. “Kitchens in colleges price inflation and universities such as are unwelcome challenges University of West London were all being closed due to a lack of demand for as consumer demand their culinary courses. Mergers in colleges have also weakened continues opportunity for the to increase sector, with fewer courses on offer. Colleges and education providers are required to also position themselves with local and regional priorities, so the focus has been redirected to suit those needs.” Influencing factors, many of which have always blighted the sector, include “poor leadership, negative and highly demotivating environments, lack of representation from various diverse communities, or overall poor reputation”.

Supply chains

The issue of staff shortages is also occurring further back in supply chain. The CGA Prestige Foodservice Price Index recently detailed how food and drink supply markets have seen widespread distribution problems and a spike in demand following the return of out-of-home eating and drinking. The report shows how June saw particular supply issues in the south of England after the return of restaurants, pubs, bars and other venues to normal operation, amplified by warm weather.

Problems were compounded by “a shortage of labour, particularly HGV drivers, as well as insufficient manufactured stocks and Brexit-related challenges with imported goods”.

As June progressed, many suppliers put mitigation strategies in place, including a refusal to take some orders in order to cap demand as well as improvements to wages and conditions to attract new employees. The situation stabilised in July, but demand is predicted to peak again in early September when schools and businesses increase order levels.

The report reveals that food inflation stood at 1.6 per cent in June, having levelled off at a time of year when it typically falls. Non-alcoholic beverage

prices increased month on month, but remain below the levels of 2020.

All told, the expectations is that the remaining months of 2021 are likely to see more increases in the level of food price inflation, as a much hoped-for return to pre-pandemic normality for overall sector demand, coupled with increasingt supply costs and wage inflation, fuel a slew of further price increases.

Shaun Allen, CEO of Prestige Purchasing, said: “June brought an unwelcome realisation to operators and suppliers alike that availability of labour will be a challenge for the foreseeable future. The difficulties with HGV drivers have been particularly impactful, and operators should consult carefully with suppliers to ensure that supply chains are as lean and efficient as possible.”

James Ashurst, client director at CGA, said: “It has been a long journey back for the food service sector, and the recent disruption to supply has come at the worst possible time.

“Labour shortages and price inflation are unwelcome challenges as consumer demand continues to increase, and fragile businesses must hope that conditions start to ease in the next few months.”

Unite contends that the government also plans to cut Universal Credit by £20 per week – £1,040 per year – on 30 September, despite warnings from the union, charities and backbench Conservative MPs that this will deepen child and family poverty.

As a result, the union is calling upon the government to “think again, not to dump furlough, but to adapt it to protect jobs and to retrain workers, including using it to build the skills urgently needed to address the climate crisis and the skills shortage”.

Speaking in August, Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, said: “The end of furlough in six weeks’ time will see an overnight jobs crisis and a crash in incomes for hundreds of thousands of workers who are on the scheme through no fault of their own.

“These workers are in the very sectors that have been hardest hit by the government’s approach to managing the reopening of the economy.

“The travel, hospitality and aviation sectors which depend on tourism and travel to thrive, alongside many in manufacturing dependent on consumer confidence and global supply chains are still in a state of Covid disarray. This summer’s reopening chaos has only brought more troubles to these industries and their workforces.

A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “As a key part of our Plan for Jobs, the furlough scheme has been vital in supporting livelihoods in unprecedented circumstances over the pandemic – already protecting 11.6 million jobs at a cost of £67 billion – with this support in place until September.

“Our plan is working – there are now fewer than two million people on furlough – as the economy reopens and people get back to work, the numbers continue to fall.

Government has promised that. as the labour market adapts, “we will continue to take the necessary steps to support people find and maintain work through other schemes that form our £352 billion package – including through generous apprenticeships incentives, tripling the scale of traineeships, doubling the number of work coaches and the Kickstart scheme.”

Possible solutions

Some bodies have suggested that sectors like hospitality could benefit if the government adapts its furlough scheme to meet skills shortages.

The government’s Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme was due to end on 30 September. At its peak, it provided wage support for more than 11 million workers in the UK.

Trade union Unite, which played a central role in negotiating the scheme, says that in July around two million workers were still on the scheme – more than had been anticipated – and reflected on how “continuing troubles for parts of the workforce” underline that “the economy is yet to recover from the crisis”.

During the pandemic furloughed workers have been receiving 80 per cent of their wages, with 60 per cent paid by the government and 20 per cent from their employers.

Once this support ends in September, those still unable to return to work will be forced onto Universal Credit, a system that takes five weeks to provide any sort of income beyond a loan, and where the financial support is among the worst in the developed world.