Friday five: The week's top stories
- A new wage subsidy programme will replace the current Job Retention Scheme when it comes to an end at the end of October. Under the new the six-month Job Support Scheme (JSS), which kick in from 1 November, employees must work a minimum of 33% of their contracted monthly hours with the remining hours topped up by the Government and the employer.
- Hospitality staff in front of house roles are now required to wear face masks at work the Government has ruled. Customers entering and leaving restaurants and pubs or walking around a premises will also be required to wear a face mask, but are permitted to remove it when they begin eating and drinking. Chefs and workers in non customer-facing roles are exempt from the new law.
- Pubs and restaurants across England must adhere to a 10pm closing time under new Coronavirus restrictions laid out by the Government this week. All hospitality venues that have a licence will also be restricted by law to offer table service only. The news has been met with dismay from the hospitality sector.
- More than 16,500 people signed up to Pret A Manger’s YourPret Barista coffee subscription service on the day of its launch. The initiative, which was launched on 8 September and which enables subscribers to claim five ‘barista-prepared’ drinks per day for a fixed monthly price of £20 is part of the coffee and sandwich chain’s new post lockdown digital strategy.
- Hospitality leaders have rejected claims from the Government that pubs and restaurants are one of the key places of Coronavirus transmission. Industry leaders pointed to Public Health England data that shows that out of 729 new incidents reported in week 37, only 34 were linked to food outlets or restaurants, accounting for just 5% of the outbreaks.
