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A quarter of a million hospitality jobs are at risk from additional coronavirus restrictions imposed on London from this weekend, the mayor of London has been warned by an industry chief.
Sky News has seen a letter to Sadiq Khan from Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, in which she said that his request for the capital to be moved to a higher risk status would be “incredibly damaging without additional financial support and urge you to work with us to secure that is in place before any changes to London’s classification is made”.

Ms Nicholls’ letter was sent on Wednesday, 24 hours before the change was formally announced by the government, with new COVID-19 restrictions in London coming into force this weekend.

Image: Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London

Track the economy’s recovery from lockdown

Responding to the announcement, she called on ministers to remove employer contributions from the Job Support Scheme for hospitality “or apply tier 3 job support to tier 2 businesses”.
“If it does not, we are looking at catastrophic businesses closures and widespread job losses in the capital as early as 1 November,” she said.

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In her letter to Mr Khan, the UKHospitality chief requested a package of financial support measures, including enabling hospitality businesses outside the most severe restrictions to be allowed to close voluntarily while still accessing emergency funding.

“With the announcement of the new tiered restrictions system, focused almost entirely on the hospitality sector, we have moved into a new phase of financial peril for our businesses, their employees, the capital’s tourism offer, and the social and cultural prospects for Londoners,” she wrote.

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Where jobs have been lost in the UK

“The current restrictions – the 10pm curfew, the instruction to work from home and various other impositions on customers and staff – have combined to severely dampen trade, particularly in London. Across the UK, London has the lowest proportion of pubs, bars and restaurants open of any region – with one in six (16%) still closed.
She went on to warn: “Mass job losses – potentially up to 250,000 in London alone – will become unavoidable if more support is not forthcoming.”
The tightening of restrictions in London was given a cautious welcome by the lobbying group London First, whose chief executive, Jasmine Whitbread, said: “If tough action now means we can save lives and avoid a more severe lockdown later, then businesses in the capital will hope that these short-term measures will prevent worse to come.”

Global stock markets have dropped as tightening restrictions to battle a second wave of coronavirus cases dampened hopes of economic recovery.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index was more than 2% lower at one stage, with steep sell-offs also seen across Europe with Paris going into curfew and London moving to tougher lockdown rules.

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Tracking the UK’s recovery from lockdown

Further gloom came as jobless claims surged in the US at a time when hopes for a fresh US economic stimulus package fizzled out. There were jitters too over the state of Brexit negotiations.
The major US markets also opened down – by more than 1% – while sterling was more than a cent weaker against the US dollar at $1.29. That was largely a consequence of the continued Brexit bickering.

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Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “Investors were greeted with a sea of red as global equity markets slumped on Thursday.

“It is becoming more apparent that the pandemic could still be raging well into 2021 and so economic prospects have become even more clouded.

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“There were also negative comments from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that a big stimulus deal was unlikely before next month’s presidential election, in line with previous comments from Donald Trump.
“Ultimately investors are unnerved by what’s going on with COVID-19 and how that is negatively impacting jobs and the ability for many businesses to succeed.”
The CAC in Paris and German DAX were both more than 2% lower at the close.
The FTSE ended the day 1.7% down at 5,832 – clawing back some value late on as the weaker pound helped boost the stocks of constituent companies which make sizeable earnings abroad.
The early fallers were led by consumer stocks such as Premier Inn owner Whitbread and luxury fashion group Burberry – each down about 5%. The latter still lost 4%.

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COVID-19: Which sectors may not survive?

The sell-off came after more jobs gloom in the UK, with pub and brewery group Marston’s blaming tougher restrictions as it said more than 2,000 workers faced the axe.
Meanwhile, Dublin-based airline Ryanair said more unpaid leave, job sharing and redundancies were on the cards as it slashed its winter capacity to 40%, blamed on travel rules.

More than £38,000 has been donated to a Merseyside gym that was fined by police for staying open and breaking coronavirus restrictions.
Body Tech Fitness in Moreton, Wirral received a £1,000 penalty after it defied Tier 3 restrictions that came into force in the area on Wednesday.

Owner Nick Whitcombe had said on Instagram that he wouldn’t close, posting: “We are not staying open for financial gain but more for our members mental and physical well-being.
“Gyms should be supported in fighting against COVID obesity, mental health and many other conditions and diseases.”
Live coronavirus updates from the UK and around the world

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On Wednesday, he posted a video showing five police officers in the gym – who he said had warned him to shut.

Merseyside Police confirmed officers went to the gym on Wednesday morning after a report that it was breaking the new rules.

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Image: Nick Whitcombe said gyms are vital for people’s mental and physical health. Pic: nickcapo_
The £1,000 fine was handed out when officers returned later in the day and found the gym still open.
Mr Whitcombe said he was told the fine would repeatedly double if he refused to shut.
Supporters have rallied round and a GoFundMe page to help with any legal costs has raised more than £38,000.

Image: Police warned that the fine would double if the gym didn’t shut. Pic: nickcapo_
Merseyside Police Chief Superintendent Claire Richards stressed the new rules were vital to protect people’s health.
“The focus of us all should now be on preventing the spread of the virus and getting us back to normality as safely and as quickly as possible.
“The new restrictions have been brought in to try to achieve that, and if we don’t act decisively and collaboratively, the impact could be harder and last even longer.”

Which tier is my area – and what are the new rules of the three-tier lockdown?

The Liverpool area is subject to the top tier of coronavirus restrictions, which have also shut pubs and bars.
The UK’s largest gym chain, Pure Gym, has said it is considering legal action over the decision to close gyms in the city.
Meanwhile, a petition urging the government to exclude gyms from anti-COVID measures has so far been signed by more than 131,000 people.

Ryanair has cut its winter flight capacity from 60% to 40% of the previous year’s level blaming “mismanagement” of air travel by EU governments.
The Dublin-based carrier said increased flight restrictions had caused travel to a number of countries to be “heavily curtailed” resulting in bookings to weaken “slightly” in October and “materially” in November and December.

Its schedule for November to March will now see it operate 65% of its usual winter network, at reduced frequencies.
The airline said it now expects full-year traffic to fall to 38 million although that could be further revised downwards if EU governments “continue to mismanage air travel and impose more lockdowns this winter”.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “While we deeply regret these winter schedule cuts they have been forced upon us by government mismanagement of EU air travel.”

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Pubs group Marston’s has warned that 2,150 jobs will be impacted after the government tightened coronavirus restrictions.
Curfews and new rules on face masks table service, added to “three tier” guidance for operating in England as well as tough limitations in parts of Scotland had taken their toll on consumer confidence, the company said.

Marston’s said the their introduction was “hugely disappointing” and that there was a lack of evidence linking pubs to the recent rise in coronavirus infections.

Where jobs have been lost across the UK economy

“Inevitably, and regrettably, recent restrictions will impact jobs,” the company said.
It said that after “vital” government support for its workforce over the summer, 10,000 staff had since returned to work.

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“However, because of the recent additional restrictions, we have reluctantly concluded that around 2,150 pub-based roles currently subject to furlough are going to be impacted,” Marston’s added.

“Furthermore, we have initiated a full review of overhead costs which will be concluded by the end of December.

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“These decisions are difficult but are necessary due to the restrictions placed upon our business at this time.”
The jobs warning is the latest sign of the strain facing Britain’s hospitality sector as a result of the coronavirus jobs crisis – coming after rival Greene King said it planned to cut 800 jobs and a day after a rescue deal for Gourmet Burger Kitchen which will see 26 restaurants close and 362 roles axed.

Image: The pub company and brewer employs 14,000 people
Sky’s tracker of publicly-announced job cuts during the crisis suggests the sector is fast catching up with aviation and retail as the worst affected, with more than 30,000 now hit.
Marston’s, which owns 1,400 pubs around the UK including the Pitcher & Piano bar brand and also brews beers including Pedigree, Courage, McEwan’s and Brakspear, employs around 14,000 people.
In a trading update, it revealed the impact of lockdowns which saw all sites closed from March to the start of July and still well below last year’s levels for a few weeks after that.
August’s Eat Out To Help Out meal discount scheme saw it recover, with sales 6% ahead of the same period in 2019, but in September they fell back again and were 12% lower.
Additional restrictions brought in this autumn have since taken their toll, with eight pubs closed in Scotland though of 18 in the “highest risk” Liverpool region region, the majority serve food and under existing guidelines “are capable of remaining open”, the company said.
“The initial effect of these new rules has been to undermine consumer confidence and create uncertainty,” Marston’s said.

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‘There’s been a murder’ of Glasgow’s hospitality sector

“Restoring confidence will only happen when UK Government and the devolved administrations are able to remove these restrictive measures, which they state are intended to be short term in nature.”
“The introduction of these further restrictions and guidance affecting pubs is hugely disappointing in view of a lack of clear evidence tying pubs to the recent increase in infection levels, and our own data which suggests that pubs are effective in minimising risks.”
Marston’s chief executive Ralph Findlay said: “The additional restrictions which have been applied across the UK most recently present significant challenges to us and will make business more difficult for a period of time.
“I very much regret that the consequence of this is that the jobs of around 2,150 of our colleagues will be impacted, but it is an inevitable consequence of the limitations placed upon our business.”
Shares fell 4% in early trading.

The members of hit South Korean boy band BTS have landed a huge windfall after a stellar debut by their management firm on the stock market.
Big Hit Entertainment’s listing was the largest in South Korea for three years, with shares opening at 270,000 won (£181) each.

This compares with an IPO (initial public offering) price of 135,000 won (£90) per share last month – valuing the company at about 9.6trn won (£6.4bn).
The seven members of BTS each have shares worth as much as 24bn won (£16m), based on early trade.
Big Hit’s stock rose as much as 30% in early trading on Thursday.

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It puts it on track to become one of the top 10 debuts in the country’s history.

BTS accounts for 87.8% of Big Hit’s revenue and has a large and loyal fan base around the world.

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Coronavirus has forced the band to limit performances to social media and online, but it hasn’t halted their success.
In August, the band’s single Dynamite became the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours, with 101 million views in a day.
An online concert in June also set a record for the most-viewed livestream concert, with 756,000 fans watching from more than 100 countries.

The retail sector has expressed concerns at government proposals to protect access to cash that would see shops offering cashback services more widely.
The plan builds on a budget pledge by the chancellor to protect the cash system, as ATM numbers and bank branches continue to decline rapidly in the face of the challenge posed by digital payments and contactless cards.

The Treasury’s main proposal – the subject of a six-week consultation – is that retailers’ tills effectively become cash machines, and customers would be under no obligation to buy anything at the same time.

Image: The big supermarkets are currently the main operators of cash back services
Shoppers received £3.8bn in cashback last year, mainly via supermarkets, and it is hoped that more stores can offer the service in future in a bid to keep cash flowing and distribution costs down at the same time.
However, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) suggested that an industry – reeling from the effects of the coronavirus crisis – was unlikely to want to invest in the potentially costly provision of cash.

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Andrew Cregan, the BRC’s payments policy adviser, welcomed scrutiny of the issue but said: “The government and regulators should ensure that, where cashback services are provided by retailers, there are appropriate mechanisms in place to ensure that merchants are compensated fairly.

“Furthermore, government plans to allow cashback at all shops would pose challenges for retailers who would often have to hold significantly more cash than normal – putting them at an increased crime risk.”

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The government’s wider proposals include giving the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), oversight of the retail cash system to protect small and medium-sized businesses in addition to its current obligations to the consumer.
The City regulator fired a warning shot at banks during the summer, warning against renewed branch closures after usage collapsed during the coronavirus lockdown as customers were forced to stay home.
It highlighted data from the consumer group Which? that showed 3,500 sites had been lost over five years.
The watchdog also expressed concerns about plunging numbers of free-to-use cash machines – with almost 10,000 lost over two years. The BRC said it believed there were just 10,000 left.

Image: Major banks started closing branches at an accelerated rate in the wake of the financial crisis
The FCA’s own proposals include a requirement that it is notified of any closures in advance and that customers are given at least three months’ notice to allow them to make any alternative arrangements.
It cited this year’s Financial Lives survey which found one in ten people, many of them elderly, did not know how they would cope in a cashless society.
John Glen, economic secretary to the Treasury, said: “We want to harness the same creative thinking that has driven innovation in digital payments to maintain the UK’s cash system and make sure people can easily access cash in their local area.”
The Community Access to Cash Pilots (CACP) initiative is working on a number of pilot projects, including the use of cash back without purchase, to test solutions to the cash crunch.
Link, which operates the UK’s largest cash machine network, is among the bodies taking part in the trials.
Its chief executive, John Howells, said of the Treasury’s intervention: “The UK is not ready to go cashless yet and Link welcomes the government’s intention to legislate to support cash access.”

The government is paying individual private sector consultants million-pound wages to work on its test and trace system, according to documents seen by Sky News.
Some executives from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) helping the government set up and run its testing system are being paid day rates of around £7,000 – equivalent to an annual salary of around £1.5m.

While individual consultants may only receive a portion of that sum, it is still considerably more than than any other public sector worker.

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How does the NHS app work?

The revelation is the latest evidence of the expense of the government’s testing scheme, which is budgeted to cost £12bn this year – making it one of the most expensive government programmes in recent years.
BCG is renowned as one of the most prestigious – and expensive – management consultancy groups in the world.

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According to the documents, the government has paid BCG around £10m for a team of around 40 consultants to do four months’ work on the testing system between the end of April and late August.

But while the government pays the consultancy, that fee is determined by the “day rates” of the individuals working for it.

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BCG has a range of day rates for public sector work and while these are generally lower than the rates they charge in the private sector, they nonetheless range from £2,400 to £7,360 for the most senior consultants.

Coronavirus: Which tier is my area – and what are the new rules of the three-tier lockdown?

According to the documents seen by Sky News, BCG is giving the Department of Health and Social Care a 10-15% discount for its work, however this would still equate to day rates equivalent to a £1.5m annual salary.
The revelation comes amid growing consternation about the cost of Britain’s COVID-19 testing system and question marks over value for money, given problems suffered by the system in recent months.
Labour MP Toby Perkins raised the matter during a House of Commons debate on contact-tracing on Wednesday afternoon.
“Occassionally you get a story that seems, in itself, to demonstrate a much wider point,” he told MPs.
“And so it was today with the scoop revealed by Ed Conway of Sky News that the government is paying, on a daily rate, £7,360 per day to the management consultants at Boston Consulting Group, who are in charge of test and trace.
“Equivalent to a £1.5m salary to individuals as a day rate, to preside over this shambolic sight that is letting down all the people in my constituency and in so many others.”
Mr Perkins called for “dedicated public servants” to be drafted into the test and trace system.
“You won’t find dedicated public servants being paid £7,500 per day, you won’t find them on £1.5m, but what you will find is a basic competence, a knowledge of their area, a desire to make sure that the systems work before they are implemented,” he said.
“And that is what we need right now in our system.”
Referring to his previous career in the sales industry, Mr Perkins also told MPs: “I never came across a customer nearly as naive as what we have with the government.”
“I just wish that at some point in my life I could have come across a customer with as much money as the government has, as willing to be so easily impressed as this government is, and as willing to give it to people and then defend the people who let them down as a supplier,” he added.

Minister plays down prospect of national lockdown as England’s three-tier system comes into force
Minister plays down prospect of national lockdown as England’s three-tier system comes into force

Last week, Sky News revealed that DHSC had more than a thousand consultants from Deloitte working on the programme, at day rates of as much as £2,360.
Sky News has now been shown separate documents revealing that the government has since recruited many more private sector consultants to work on its Moonshot testing programme, which aims to introduce mass COVID-19 testing for the UK.
We have seen documents which show 165 more consultants were drafted in to work on the new testing scheme between now and November.
They include 84 more consultants from Deloitte, 31 from EY and 50 from KPMG, with a further 42 roles potentially available for consultants, taking the total to 219.
None of these appointments has been announced publicly, no costings have been published and there is no information about how DHSC will secure value for money from the consultants.
According to data collected by information group Tussell, the total value of contracts awarded by the government in response to COVID-19 is running at £12.2bn – though this includes PPE contracts as well as those focused on the testing system.

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Jo Stevens criticises Test and Trace

Boston Consulting Group declined to comment.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson responded: “NHS Test and Trace is the biggest testing system per head of population of all the major countries in Europe.
“It’s processing 270,000 tests a day and nearly 700,000 people who may otherwise have unknowingly at risk of spreading coronavirus have been contacted.
“To build the largest diagnostic network in British history, it requires us to work with both public and private sector partners with the specialist skills and experience we need. Every pound spent is contributing towards our efforts to keep people safe as we ramp up testing capacity to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.”
While Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of industry body the Management Consultancies Association, told Sky News: “This has been a massive challenge for government.
“Within three weeks they were able to set up the booking system for Test & Trace, so having to respond at speed and at pace has required the government to bring in private sector expertise; technology capabilities that they just don’t have to deliver this urgently for the country.
“The government, along with many other clients has really benefited from the ability of our sector to bring in multidisciplinary capabilities, highly skilled people and the capacity, overnight to meet some of those challenging requirements.
“In this unprecedented period, our sector has been proud to be supporting government in meeting the challenge of setting up Test & Trace.”

As a rule of thumb, the profits of banks tend to reflect the health of the economies in which they operate.
So those wondering about the strength of the US economy’s recovery from COVID-19 will have been scrutinising this week’s third-quarter updates from America’s big banks carefully for clues.

There have already been common themes this year: In April, all of the big US banks reported a drop in profits, with JP Morgan Chase, America’s (and the world’s) biggest bank by stock market capitalisation, highlighting the extent to which big corporate clients had been drawing on lines of credit as they braced themselves for the crisis.

Image: JP Morgan Chase performed better than expected by was cautious on the months ahead
In July, meanwhile, the big US banks revealed they had set aside almost $40bn (£31bn) to cover the eventuality of souring loans.
So what of the latest quarter?

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Well, optimists can point to the results from JP Morgan Chase on Tuesday.

Its results for the third quarter were much better than expected, with profits of $9.4bn (£7.2bn) for the quarter actually higher than the $9.1bn (£7bn) it achieved in the same three months last year, something Wall Street’s analysts had not expected.

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Only in its consumer banking division did the company see a drop in profits, with its other three main divisions – corporate and investment banking, commercial banking and asset and wealth management – all turning in healthy increases.
Strikingly, the bank added little to its existing loan loss provisions, suggesting it does not expect much further deterioration in its loan book.
Yet Jamie Dimon and Jennifer Piepszak, respectively the chief executive and chief financial officer, were careful to strike a cautious tone when speaking with reporters and analysts.

Image: Jamie Dimon
Mr Dimon noted: “A good, well-designed stimulus package will simply increase the chance we get better outcomes, but there is so much uncertainty we’re not saying that that’s definitive.”
He went on to un-nerve investors by warning: “If you have a double-dip, there will be considerable pain and suffering.”
And Ms Piepszak added: “We are prepared for a double-digit unemployment, peak unemployment, level.”
Citi, reporting the same day, was even less optimistic.
America’s fourth largest bank by market value did, like JP Morgan Chase, manage to produce forecast-busting results.
But its profits for the third quarter, of $3.23bn (£2.5bn), were down 34% on the same three months a year ago.
Mike Corbat, the outgoing chief executive, insisted Citi was navigating “the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic extremely well”.
But Citi, which was criticised on its call with analysts over its executive pay and the fact that Mr Corbat is waiting until February before handing over to his Scottish-born successor Jane Fraser, also sounded a cautionary note.

Image: Citi’s European headquarters are in London’s Canary Wharf
Mark Mason, the chief financial officer, said: “We expect to see continued pressure and [our consumer banking division] reflecting the impact of rates and lower levels of activity related to COVID-19.”
Wednesday’s batch of earnings updates brought similarly cautionary comments.
Bank of America, the country’s second largest lender by market capitalisation, reported a profit of $4.9bn (£3.8bn).
That was up 38% on the April to June quarter but was down 16% on the same three months a year ago.
That ought not to be a surprise, given the way the US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates during the past year, but perhaps highlights the scale of JP Morgan’s achievement in beating its profits a year earlier.
BoA also, like its peers, set aside substantially less to provide for the non-repayment of loans and Brian Moynihan, the chief executive, also noted that he had seen the bank’s customers spending during the quarter in a way reminiscent of before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo, America’s third largest lender by market value, reported results below expectations, despite profits of $2bn (£1.5bn) for the quarter showing a marked improvement on the loss of $2.38bn (£1.8bn) – its first loss since the financial crisis – during the second quarter. It reported weak loan growth but, like its peers, it too set aside significantly less for souring and doubtful loans than in the previous quarter.
Arguably, the star so far of the bank reporting season has been Goldman Sachs, which reported a quarterly profit of $3.68bn (£2.8bn) – comfortably ahead of analyst expectations and also well up on the $1.88bn (£1.4bn) on the same three months a year ago.
Investment banking and trading were the main drivers for growth, with Goldman benefiting both from the rise in the number of stock market flotations during the quarter and a rip-roaring performance from its bond trading division, whose revenues were almost 50% higher than the same quarter last year. It is being seen as a positive signal for Morgan Stanley, Goldman’s rival, which reports its results on Thursday.
Overall then, it is fair to say that the results so far from America’s banks point to a modest recovery in the economy, while it is notable that – as in the UK – American households are saving more. All of the major banks have reported an increase in deposits.
The other common theme is that provisions this quarter for doubtful loans were lower than they were between April and June.

Image: Donald Trump has made a strong economy the theme of his presidency but COVID-19 has thrwarted growth
That, too, provides room for cautious optimism. Things could be much worse.
Yet there are also plenty of headwinds. Unemployment is rising as scores of big US employers as diverse as Walt Disney, Dow Chemical and American Airlines all take the axe to jobs.
And, most critically, US interest rates remain at close to zero – squeezing the margin between what banks charge borrowers and pay depositors.
It means that banking executives like Mr Dimon will continue to urge US Congress to come up with another stimulus package.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen is to close 26 restaurants and axe 362 jobs as part of a pre-pack deal that will save the bulk of the chain’s workforce.
The deal, confirming a story first reported by Sky News, will see poultry tycoon Ranjit Boparan take control of the chain.

Deloitte, which is handling the administration process, said the sale would secure 35 sites and 669 jobs.

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‘There’s been a murder’ of Glasgow’s hospitality sector

Mr Boparan, who earlier this year rescued the Carluccio’s chain, already controls the Giraffe, Ed’s Easy Diner and Fishworks brands as well as 2 Sisters Food Group, one of Britain’s biggest private sector employers.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) previously went through a major restructuring in 2018 which saw dozens of restaurants close.

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It was put up for sale this year after South Africa-based owned Famous Brands indicated it would not provide any further funding to see it through the coronavirus crisis.

GBK has been operating a reduced number of restaurants following lockdown measures.

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Gavin Maher, joint administrator at Deloitte, said: “As with a number of dining businesses, the broader challenges facing ‘bricks and mortar’ operators, combined with the effect of the lockdown, resulted in a deterioration in financial performance and a material funding requirement.”
The transaction is the latest in a swathe of deals which have reshaped Britain’s casual dining industry since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

Where jobs have been lost across the UK economy

Hospitality chiefs have warned that a second nationwide lockdown would trigger hundreds of thousands of job losses across the industry, with regional restrictions already exacerbating the crisis facing pub operators and other leisure groups.
Few restaurant chains have been able to weather the COVID-19 period without some form of restructuring, with companies including Burger King, the owner of Wagamama, Prezzo and Casual Dining Group all resorting to insolvency processes, auctions or emergency fundraisings.
Wahaca, the chain co-founded by former Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers, recently completed a company voluntary arrangement to put it on a sounder financial footing.
The list of GBK sites to have been closed:
Angel (London)AylesburyBaker Street (London)Berners Street (London)Brunswick (London)CanterburyCardiff LibraryChichesterClink Street (London)Covent Garden (London)EdinburghGlasgow [closed at an earlier date]MaidstoneNottinghamRichmondSheffieldSouthamptonSpitalfields (London)Tower Bridge (London)Walton on ThamesWandsworth (London)Battersea (London)Bayswater (London)Brighton MarinaWatfordWindsorWorcester