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Top chefs and restauranteurs owners from across the region have joined forces with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce to voice concerns over the imminent reversal of VAT rate reductions.

In a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the Chamber and well-known hospitality industry figures such as Simpsons owner Andreas Antona and TV chef Glynn Purnell are calling for an extension to the rates reduction in a bid to drive consumer demand.

As the Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) is coming to an end in the UK, a paper published by the University of Birmingham concluded the government designed scheme preserves a worker’s job during the COVID-19 pandemic but it provokes substantial decline of their monthly income that may trigger financial distress.

Research led by Christoph Görtz, Danny McGowan and Mallory Yeromonahos of the Birmingham Business School used household survey data from the Understanding Society Database provided first-hand evidence on whether the UK furlough scheme has been designed effectively and whether it prevented household financial distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a nationally-representative survey into 2,000 UK workers, conducted by corporate transport technology specialist Kura, an increase of just £5 to daily travel costs may hold the key to solving the UK’s car-led climate emergency.  

The research findings revealed that nearly half (45.3%) of employees would consider forgoing their cars in favour of an alternative transport method if daily costs increased.