Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality has made comment on reports of Government plans to introduce vaccine passports.
Nicholls said, “A scheme introducing mandatory Covid passports for certain venues and events will be unworkable, cause conflict between staff and customers and will force business to deal with complex equality rules.
'Operators may even be forced into a position where they have to let unvaccinated staff go, at a time when there are record levels of staff shortages across the industry.'
Nicholls continued, “The hospitality sector has invested heavily to ensure customers are safe and we have proved venues are Covid secure.
'Introducing a scheme such as this will be a hammer blow to businesses such as nightclubs that were closed by the Government for nearly 18 months, and have only recently been able to trade viably and make progress toward rebuilding and paying off accrued debts.'
Nicholls concluded, “Over the past year our sector has been devastated and businesses have only known forced closure or the most severe restrictions. This policy will be devastating for businesses that remain fragile and will certainly derail recovery and cost thousands of jobs.”