Honest Burgers consults with staff on scrapping paid breaks

Restaurant chain Honest Burgers has launched a consultation with staff around removing the benefit of paid breaks introduced during the pandemic.

The burger group, which runs 45 restaurants across the UK, said the decision came as it faced rising costs and ahead of the increase in the National Minimum Wage in April.

It added that the decision had been "broadly well received" although the Evening Standard reported several staff were unhappy with the change and that managers had been told those who did not agree to the terms could be fired and re-hired on new contractual terms as a "last resort".

A spokesperson for Honest Burgers, said: "In the face of exceptional cost pressures affecting the hospitality sector, we have taken the difficult decision to consult with our teams to remove a paid breaks benefit that was implemented during the pandemic.

"This benefit is one that is quite unusual in the sector and we are removing it in order to be able to afford higher pay rates for our team members, with increases of 6%-10% for the roles not directly affected by the 10% National Minimum Wage increase.

"We are making every effort to be fair to our people and to ensure that the majority of our team members will be better off. These proposed changes have been broadly well received and we therefore expect to reach mutual agreement with the vast majority of our people.

"However, as part of the consultation process we have also highlighted a further potential step as an absolute last resort in the legal process to vary their contractual terms."

The hourly National Living Wage will rise from £9.50 to £10.42 from 1 April, an increase of 9.7%.

The National Minimum Wage for 21-22-year-olds will increase 10.9% from £9.18 an hour to £10.18 an hour.

Those aged 18-20, 16-17 and apprentices will all see a 9.7% rise in their minimum hourly pay.

Honest Burgers was founded in Brixton in 2011.