Our Representation for the Upcoming Autumn Budget

Last week, on the 11th of September, as part of our lobbying work for our members and the wider independent sector, we submitted our representation for the Autumn Budget which is taking place on the 30th of October.

We submitted a summary of our representation along with a more detailed document that explained the challenges our members are facing along with solutions that could support the sector.

Below is a summary of our representation, for more information and/or to share your current challenges, please contact us via [email protected]

The Nationwide Caterers Association has been championing and supporting independent hospitality businesses across the UK for over 30 years.

We believe that the additional burden of VAT, taxes and costs such as business rates on hospitality businesses and reviewing anti-growth measures such as VAT thresholds and regressive parts of taxation that discourage growth must be addressed as part of the Autumn Budget.

Hospitality businesses in the UK pay 20% VAT.

Hospitality businesses in Europe pay between 10-13% VAT.

Hospitality businesses in the UK must charge 20% on hot meals bought and consumed in a hospitality business, and hot take-away food or drink, are charged at a standard 20% tax rate.

Most small and micro hospitality businesses absorb the 20% hot food tax.

Hospitality businesses in the UK cannot claim VAT back on most of the stock they buy because it is zero rated. Without profit margins businesses lack resilience to cope with future shocks or down turns and act as ‘tax collectors’.

The VAT threshold should be comprehensively reviewed in line with inflation, the £5k rise in the last budget made no impact on the sector.

A siding scale for small and micro for VAT should be explored in order to protect existing businesses and encourage growth.

We are calling on government to engage with us, our members and the wider sector to better understand the current economic challenges for the small and micro businesses that make up the independent hospitality sector.

We are constantly striving to engage with government to improve the state of the sector for independent hospitality. Find out more about our #EmpowerIndependents campaign here.