‘Moment for change’ - UKHospitality launches four-point campaign ahead of autumn Budget

UKHospitality has launched its Budget26 campaign, setting out four asks it wants chancellor John Healey to act on at the autumn Budget on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, warning that nearly 100,000 hospitality jobs have been lost across the sector in the past two years.

John Healey took over as chancellor in July, when Andy Burnham became prime minister and succeeded Rachel Reeves at the Treasury.

The trade body, which represents pubs, restaurants, hotels and visitor attractions, is calling the Budget “a moment for change” and wants government to use it to reset the tax burden on hospitality businesses, which it says are more likely to become insolvent than the average UK company.

The four asks

UKHospitality's submission centres on four core asks.

The first is a cut to VAT on hospitality and paid visitor attractions from 20% to 10%, bringing the UK closer in line with international competitors.

The second is further reform of business rates: increasing the retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) multiplier discount towards 20p, removing the surcharge on properties with a rateable value above £500,000, and a 20% discount for hotels hit by the 2026 revaluation.

The third ask is a rise in the secondary threshold for employer National Insurance contributions to £10,000 by April 2029, easing the tax burden on lower-paid and part-time roles, an area where hospitality is one of the country's biggest employers.

The fourth is a tourism bonus, replacing visitor levies known as a tourist tax with devolved funding tied to growth in tourism.

UKHospitality pointed to almost a million young people not currently earning or learning, and said hospitality is the largest employer of young people and school leavers and a leading employer of part-time workers, to argue the sector's tax treatment has a knock-on effect on jobs and opportunity well beyond hospitality itself.

Part of a longer campaign

The Budget26 campaign builds on more than a year of sustained lobbying by UKHospitality and operators.

Its #VATsTheProblem petition, fronted by chef Tom Kerridge, has now reached more than 350,000 signatures on its way to a target of one million, after hospitality leaders made their case at UKHospitality's Summer Conference in June.

>>> SIGN THE PETITION HERE <<<

Speaking at that conference, Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie said the taxation regime was “unfair on our sector,” adding: “It's inequitable, whether you're talking about duty, whether you're talking about National Insurance, whether you're talking about VAT.”

Wahaca chief executive Gemma Glasson used a £7.95 pork belly taco to illustrate the point, telling the conference the restaurant made 20 pence profit on the dish while paying around £1.59 in VAT, roughly ten times its margin.

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Business rates relief 'falls far short'

Business rates have been a particular flashpoint. Responding to last year's autumn Budget, Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said the government's move to a permanently lower RHL multiplier delivered only around a 5p discount rather than the 20p reduction originally proposed.

Kate said: “The 5p discount is only a quarter of the maximum 20p discount the government proposed last year,” adding that hospitality “remains under significant cost pressures, with the highest tax burden in the economy.”

Employer National Insurance contributions have been under similar strain. UKHospitality estimated last year's changes added around £1.4 billion in costs across the sector, and, as The Staff Canteen reported at the time, Harri's Dan Maimone warned that labour already represents up to 45% of operating costs for many businesses, with some operators likely to cut hours or raise prices in response.

Burnham's rates cut for pubs

Andy Burnham, then newly elected as MP for Makerfield, signalled support for wider hospitality tax reform in early July, telling LBC there was “room” within Labour's plans to raise rates on out-of-town warehouses to fund cuts for pubs and high street businesses, prioritising “the businesses that bring social benefit, the businesses that bring people together, the bars, the restaurants, the coffee shops.”

As prime minister, he followed through in July, announcing a 20% business rates cut for around 32,000 pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England from April 2027, worth £100 million a year and an estimated £1,100 for a typical pub.

Tom Kerridge welcomed the move as a sign the government understood the pressure pubs are under, but said: “It doesn't go far enough.”

Restaurants and hotels, which between them employ 2.7 million of hospitality's 3.5 million workers, were left out of that package altogether, something UKHospitality wants addressed through the wider rates reform in its Budget26 asks.

What happens next?

UKHospitality is holding a Budget 2026 webinar for members on Monday, September 14, 2026, between 11am and 12pm to talk through its submission in more detail ahead of the Budget.

With the chancellor's statement now seven weeks away, operators across the sector will be watching closely to see how many of the four asks make it into the small print.