Figures reveal almost 9,000 hospitality jobs lost since last Budget

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that hospitality employed 8,784 fewer people in December 2025, compared to November 2025.

The data also reported that the sector employed 20,014 fewer people in December 2025 compared to September 2025 – at a time when the sector would be traditionally staffing up in preparation for the busy festive season.

The news comes as UKHospitality warned last month that it is “entirely plausible” the sector could lose a further 100,000 workers as a result of the Budget, which has proved damaging for many businesses.

Increased business rates, minimum wage and National Insurance Contributions, as well as the wider tough economic climate, have led to many in the sector responding with anger at the government’s lack of support and calling for a U-turn on chancellor Rachel Reeves’s policies.

Addressing the ONS’s latest data, Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “Hospitality is being hit by costs at every angle, and it is the cumulative effect of this growing tax burden that is resulting in the number of people employed in hospitality continuing to fall.”

Simpson said that the sector “has much potential” to drive growth and create opportunities but that it is “being held back by the highest tax burden in the economy”.

“Looming business rates increases are only making things worse and the government needs to act urgently to bring forward a hospitality-wide solution that averts those hikes. If it doesn’t, we will only see job losses and business closures accelerate,” he added.

Hospitality already lost an estimated 100,000 jobs since the Budget of October 2024 and experienced an average of two licensed venues permanently closing each day in the first half of 2025, according to the Hospitality Market Monitor from CGA by NIQ and AlixPartners.