Jobs scheme ‘doesn’t help at all’ Ben Ireland
Travel companies say the scheme to replace furlough from November 1 offers “no lifeline at all” for the industry and will not prevent mass redundancies. Industry leaders and trade
associations reiterated calls for airport testing, saying a resumption of travel in some capacity was the only way to save jobs in the sector. Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled
the eagerly-anticipated Job Support Scheme last week, offering employers a wage subsidy for staff who work at least a third of their hours. Employers will continue to pay
wages for the hours worked, but for hours not worked, the government
and employer will each pay one-third of salaries, with the state’s contribution capped at £697.92 a month. This mean firms will be required to
pay 55% of an employee’s salary even if they work only 33% of their hours. Speaking on a Travel Weekly
webcast, Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said the announcement was “a blow” and “doesn’t make any financial sense” for travel companies with no substantial income currently. She said the scheme gave agent
members “no lifeline at all”, adding: “To protect jobs in the long term, we must be able to book and sell holidays.” Giles Hawke, chief executive of
Cosmos and Avalon Waterways, calculated that “you could have 11 full-
Until politicians
understand how our sector works, this policy will not stop mass redundancies
time employees for the same cost as 20 employees on 33% hours, but you’d get way more hours from those full-time employees”. He added: “I can’t see how it can work in the travel industry.” The chancellor’s claim that the
scheme would protect “viable jobs” was attacked by industry leaders. Joanne Dooey, president of
the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association, said “the sector remains
eminently viable” as there is demand when restrictions are lifted, but the scheme “hasn’t helped us in any way”. She called for airport testing and added: “Until politicians understand how our sector works, this policy will not stop mass redundancies.” Abta’s director of public affairs,
Luke Petherbridge, said many travel firms would find the scheme “impossible to justify based on current trading”, adding: “Some roles may be saved [but] many more could be lost in the coming weeks.” Petherbridge said “the failure to introduce a testing regime” had
“undermined consumer confidence”. i Joanne Dooey: Comment, page 16 i Read Travlaw’s Job Support Scheme advice at:
tinyurl.com/TravlawJSS
Agent reveals the human cost of staying afloat
Ben Ireland
The human cost of the government’s policies for small travel businesses fighting for survival was laid bare by an agent in an emotional webcast this week. Kate Harris, owner of Inspired
Travel in Burbage, Leicestershire, shed tears as she described the impact of Covid-19 on her agency, which has spent £10,000 of its £50,000 bounce-back loan having never taken on debt in 20 years. Harris described planning
4 1 OCTOBER 2020
for various restarts based on the government’s “great spin”. She said she had made just £120 in recent weeks through a small number of domestic bookings, while exhausting a £10,000 Covid-19 Small Business Grant paying rent, and being behind on VAT and corporation tax bills. “I’ve used all of the savings I’d got
keeping afloat,” said Harris. She said she couldn’t justify the
cost of keeping her sole employee in work via the chancellor’s Job Support Scheme and was instead paying her minimum wage for reduced hours.
Despite the extension of the
repayment of government loans, Harris said: “You still have to pay it back. It comes off our bottom line”. She added that it was also hard
to justify “mothballing” the business until commission payments due in spring were paid as there was no certainty travel would resume. Harris said the chancellor’s
scheme was “delaying the inevitable” and feared her employee would move on, which would have the knock-on effect of “letting customers down” when pent-up demand is eventually
Watch webcast about the
Job Support Scheme at:
go.travelweekly.
co.uk/webcasts
Kate Harris speaks on a Travel Weekly webcast
released, jeopardising the chance to secure future bookings. Harris recalled sacrifices she
made to build her business, adding: “I now wonder what I did all that for.” She said she had “no idea where to start” when recently writing a CV and was left uncomfortable in a Zoom interview with “two people who are younger than my 27-year-old son” for a shelf-stacking role. “I will do whatever it takes to save
my business,” she said. “Without my job, without this shop, I don’t know what I’d do any more.”
travelweekly.co.uk
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