NHBF Business Update –Tuesday 23 April 2024

The NHBF State of the Industry Quarterly Survey - Closed 

The NHBF’s State of the Industry Quarterly Survey is now closed. Thank you to everyone who took part. Your feedback will give us the latest insights that we need to continue to fight your corner and help you protect your business.

The results of the survey will be published shortly.

New guidance on Tipping is published

Millions of UK workers are set to take home an estimated £200 million more of their hard-earned cash, as landmark legislation on tipping took a step towards coming into force.

The Government introduced the Code of Practice on the fair and transparent distribution of tips that will have legal effect under the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023.

The updated Code of Practice will be statutory and have legal effect, meaning it can be introduced as evidence in an employment tribunal.

The Act and secondary legislation make it unlawful for businesses to hold back service charges from their employees, ensuring staff receive all of the tips they have earned. The measures are expected to come into force on 1st October 2024, once they have been approved by Parliament.

The Code and Practice and consultation response can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/distributing-tips-fairly-draft-statutory-code-of-practice

Want to find out more about T Level placements?

Beauty salons interested in finding out more about providing a T Level industry placement can sign up for a series of webinars and in-person conferences over the coming months. Run by the Department for Education and Strategic Development Network, the events will look at the practicalities involved with the placements and how they can support workforce development plans, as well as what government support is available to businesses.

Low Pay Commission UK Visits 2024

The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is an independent statutory Non-Departmental Public Body set up under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to advise the Government on the National Minimum Wage (NMW).

They are on the lookout for companies that might be interested in speaking to the commissioners about the impact of minimum wages on their business.  From 1 April 2024, the minimum has increased to £11.44 for those over 21-year-olds which is nearly a 10% increase from last year.  There are also adjustments for other age groups as shown in the link here.

How will the latest announcement affect your business planning?  How would you respond to the rising NMW?  LPC is also interested in talking to companies that are trying to raise their productivity, to showcase their learning journeys in their communication platforms.  The oral evidence given by the companies will be collated along with the research statistics for LPC to make their yearly recommendations to the government about the minimum wage.

If you would like to speak to the LPC Commissioners and bring up issues pertinent to your sector, please refer to the table of visits below and contact Rosina Robinson from the NHBF.

Visits Schedule

Campaigning for you – House of Lords

NHBF represented your views in the House of Lords through a submission to the House of Lords Built Environment Committee inquiry into High streets in towns and small cities.

The submission underlined the importance of sector businesses to the high street and community wellbeing and outlined our key asks of the government particularly around VAT reform and apprenticeship incentives.