Inside track: now is the winter of our discontent, says Robin Hutson

We trudge into the season bearing Brexit, Covid, lack of visas and an ineffectual government, so Robin Hutson finds hope elsewhere

Listening to BBC News, hearing the number of new coronavirus cases and sadly the number of associated deaths – then, of course, the increased fears about flu – doesn’t fill us with much optimism for a trouble-free winter.

I accept that much about the pandemic is uncontrollable and therefore we have to work with it and around it. Fortunately, the majority of our team members have now been double-jabbed, so I hope the sheer weight of vaccinated people will help keep everyone safe and our businesses trading, but we are definitely not in the clear yet.

The business-related headwinds that I am far less accepting of are those that are self-induced by the government. This ridiculous soundbite strategy of a ‘high-skill/high-wage economy’ is, in my opinion, complete and utter nonsense. I am surprised that so many MPs are going along with it without breaking rank and questioning the logic.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all for paying everyone, and indeed our teams, as much as a business can afford, and am proud to say we pay everyone at Lime Wood and the Pigs above the government’s National Living Wage, regardless of age or hours worked.

I am no economist, but if significantly higher wages are to be paid to all, in a sector where replacing people with tech and robots in many roles is just not an option (or even desirable) then there is only one result – increased prices for the food, drink and accommodation services we offer, which we will simply need to pass on to our customers. If this result is the same across all sectors where the labour market has been squeezed, doesn’t that translate to huge inflation together with the interest rate hikes that will surely follow?

The point is that the Brexit plan to stop the free movement of labour has never truly been thought through and a workable plan put in its place. We cannot just close the doors to an overseas workforce without consequences. It’s not just hospitality that’s affected of course, but health, care, transport, factories, food production and agriculture to name a few.

I can’t help feeling that well-meaning talk by Parliament in support of hospitality during Covid times has simply been precisely that – just talk.

The government has already been forced to U-turn for lorry drivers and food production butchers, and unsurprisingly our European friends are not flocking to take up these temporary visas. If we want to really attract workers to help us out of this mess, then we need to welcome them and their families with open arms to live here for a reasonable length of time, rather than us begrudging the fact that we have had to send out a distress call. Surely a quota per sector of experienced workers on five-year visas could solve the problem while we transition to a new normal?

The flip-side of this conundrum is a far more positive story and something that’s close to my heart. Having just celebrated National Apprenticeship week, our award-winning apprenticeship programmes have never looked in better shape, both front and back of house. Some 30 individuals graduated this summer and there are a further 60 in current programmes.

There is no doubt in my mind that in the fullness of time and enthusiastic adoption by the whole industry we will begin to correct the current staffing crisis without government help.

The one thing these past couple of years have shown us that this sector has never been more agile and adaptable, regardless of what is thrown at us and for sure we will ultimately solve this issue too.