Placed Hospitality COVID-19 Updates

Instagram Challenge

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A post shared by Placed App (@placedapp) on Mar 25, 2020 at 10:26am PDT

We’re launching a Quarantine Cocktail competition, where we’re asking mixologists, amateurs and professionals alike, to create a cocktail with whatever they have in their home – ideally something the rest of us can try too. There’ll be a £50 Amazon voucher for the best, as well as the knowledge that you’re doing your bit to keep the joy of discovery (that we’re all missing right now) alive.

The rules are simple:

• Only use ingredients you already have in your house
• Name your quarantine cocktail
• Tag @placedapp in your video on instagram and use #quarantinecocktails and #stayhome hashtags

The hospitality industry brings so much to our lives and these last few weeks has got me crying out for a cheeky cocktail. Let’s show the people what they are missing and give them a dose of what they really need. We all have a bartender in us somewhere so let’s help everyone find theirs.

Upcoming Webinar

We are holding Webinars for candidates who have been affected by Covid-19 where we will talk to people in the industry who have been unfortunate to have lost their jobs because of the crisis. 

• How they are dealing with the situation
• What we can all do to help each other
• How we can prepare for the future

LATEST NEWS

While the economy is shutting down and we move ever closer to a spring hibernation the government is being forced to make extraordinary policies and laws to help support the economy and the British workforce. This is a quick summary of Friday’s announcement and what it means for candidates, businesses, homeowners, renters and the country as a whole. 

So if you’re worried about:

• Losing your job.
• Not being able to pay the rent or the mortgage.
• Not having enough set by for food and bills.
• How to survive now that you have lost your job

See what this announcement means for you.

Scheme to protect people’s jobs and wages

The hospitality industry is closed until further notice. So for everyone on an hourly rate or a zero-hour contract, the government’s announcement of a new “Coronavirus job retention scheme” could help you keep your lights on while venue doors are closed.  

This means that any employer in the country small or large, charitable or non-profit – will be eligible for the scheme. Employers will now be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover up to 80% of the salary of retained workers up to £2,500 a month. This is incentivizing employers to hold on to staff and rehire those that they have already laid off. If this sounds like your situation you can reach out to your former employee so that they can take advantage of this scheme. 

This means that everyone can keep their jobs even if their employers can’t afford to pay them. This scheme will be backdated to March 1st.

For businesses

The government has also launched schemes for businesses at a level never seen before. The center points of these schemes are :

• Paying people’s wages up to 80% so someone can be furloughed rather than laid off to protect their jobs.
• Deferring £30bn of taxes until the end of the financial year.
• Lending unlimited sums of money interest-free for 12 months.
• Abolishing business rates altogether this year for everyone in hospitality, retail, and leisure.
• Providing cash grants of £25,000 for small business properties.

This is to incentivize businesses to hold on to staff and to give them a lifeline to be able to survive forced closures 

People who have already lost jobs

For everyone who has unfortunately already lost their jobs as a result of the virus or were in the process of looking for one. They announced the increase of universal credit standard allowance, for the next 12 months, by £1,000 a year. They have also increased working tax credit by the same amount. 

“Together these measures will benefit over 4 million of our most vulnerable households.”

Homeowners and renters 

When you have lost your ability to earn a living one of the first worries is keeping a roof over your head. For this, the government has promised mortgage holidays for homeowners of up to three months if they need it. On Friday they went further by announcing £1bn of support for renters. They are doing this by increasing housing benefits and Universal credit so that Local Housing Allowance will cover at least 30% of market rents in your area.

We are all in this together

Friday’s announcement means that what started off as an incredibly bleak week now has some things in place to ensure that people can keep a foothold in their lives. Hospitality jobs can be held on to, and homes can be slept in knowing that neither is in jeopardy. These are unprecedented times and the government responses are ones that have never been seen before. 

If you need to sign up or take advantage of any of these schemes check out the government’s advice here.

We will end this piece like the government did- with a call to unity. We are all in this together and as Rishi Sunak said 

“We want to look back on this time and remember how, in the face of a generation-defining moment, we undertook a collective national effort – and we stood together.”

Here at Placed, we want to hear from you, so if you have any questions, stories or just want to reach out please do.