Get Help Are we able to help you?
To get help from Hospitality Action you must:
Have worked in the UK hospitality industry during one of the following timeframes (see below for our definition of hospitality work):
- Currently working within the industry
- Have worked in the industry for seven years or more in your lifetime
Demonstrate that you are in financial need and:
- Have limited savings/capital.
- You are seeking help in an area we can consider – a list of exclusions is given below.
Please note - If you have previously received a grant from us, we cannot usually consider further support for at least two years from the date of your last application (depending on your years of employment in hospitality). However, if there has been a significant change in your circumstances please contact our grants team to discuss your situation before completing a new application.
Exclusions
We cannot assist with any of the following:
- Education related costs such as private school fees, fees for educational courses, student maintenance, and student loan repayment.
- Most private medical treatments.
- Residential Care fee shortfalls.
- Payday advances.
- Legal costs (except debt solutions).
- Property repairs/adaptations the only exemptions that can be considered are repairs to boilers and central heating systems and shortfalls in Disabled Facilities Grants. Please email grants@hospitalityaction.org.uk for further information about this before completing an application form.
- Business costs such as start-up costs or any ongoing bills..
- Non-priority debts such as: credit card debts, overdrafts, payday and unsecured loan repayments.
If you have concerns about whether we can help you please contact us before completing the application form.
Please note that we also cannot consider a grant for an item until all statutory sources of funding have been tried.
What do we mean by “hospitality industry”?
On the face of it, providing people with food and drink is one of the most straight forward jobs in the world. But it’s never that simple. For us, ‘hospitality industry’ falls in to two categories.
- You could have… ‘Worked in any role for a company whose main function is the provision of food, drink or accommodation directly to the public’.
By this we mean the company that you work for has hospitality as their main function. In other words, hotels, restaurants, cafes, pubs, bars, nightclubs, sandwich shops, even cupcake stands!
If your company is one of the above then we’ll support ANYBODY who works there. Obviously, that’s traditional roles like chefs, bartenders, waiters, kitchen porters, receptionists etc.
But it’s also all the other roles, for example maintenance workers, finance people, purchasing, security, marketing, in-house florists, spa workers, housekeepers, ground staff, personal trainers, cleaners. ANYBODY who works in a hospitality business.
- Or, you could…. Have worked in a job where your direct role is the in-house provision of food, drink or accommodation in another business sector.
By this we mean that you provided food & drink in a company or place whose main function isn’t hospitality.
For example. you could be a school cook, cook in a care home, work in a staff restaurant in an office or factory, serve in a museum café, airport, railway station, or even work in a fast food outlet in a theme park.
As long as your role was the provision of food & drink in the UK we’ll consider your application. If you were a chef, cook, kitchen porter, waiter, host, bartender, or you worked in an in-house café or grab and go outlet - then you’re likely to be covered by HA.
If you were in another support role such as facilities management or cleaning the chances are we may not be able to help you, but you should call us to check before you try elsewhere.
If you have concerns about whether we can help you please contact us on 020 3004 5500 before completing the application form.
Examples of job roles where we do and don’t help.
Covered |
Not covered |
| Anyone directly employed by a hotel /pub/bar/restaurant Hotel Consortia – Pride of Britain, Preferred Hotels and Resorts etc. |
Travel Agents Generalist booking sites such as Trip Advisor, Trivago etc. |
| Members only clubs – all staff Military hotels – all staff |
|
| Fast food – fish & chips, kebabs, take away Ice cream parlour (sit in) and cake shops (e.g Kaspas) |
Ice cream vans Food distribution roles such as truck driver or warehouse staff |
| Coffee shops and mobile coffee vans, mobile hot food vans/stalls Festival catering/farmers markets |
|
| Bakeries as long as they sell hot food too. Tea shops (cakes, sandwiches and tea). Cupcake stalls, Krispy Cremes, Lola’s etc. Grab & Go outlets |
Bread shops/stalls Cakes – creation of wedding cakes, birthday cakes etc |
Chefs/caterers – in any sector eg
|
Lunchtime Supervisors. Restaurant booking sites or takeaway sites – Just Eat, Open Table etc. |
| Housekeeping in hotels (including agency work providing they always work in a hospitality venue) Cleaning/Housekeeping etc in universities which are run like hotels outside term time |
Private housekeeping, or in a non-hospitality setting Outsourced professional services such as finance, marketing etc. Other university staff |
|
Cleaning in hospitality establishment and also agency cleaning if they consistently work in a hospitality setting |
Cleaning in non-hospitality establishments |
| Airline catering companies | Air Stewards and airplane staff |
| Bar staff and hot food in a cinema, bingo hall, bowling alley, casinos etc | No other cinema/bingo/bowling staff. Croupiers |
|
Deliveroo drivers and any take away delivery people. Meals on Wheels (hot food delivery) |
Companies that deliver chilled/frozen readymade meals |
| Steward in Merchant Navy | |
| All jobs on cruise ships (UK based companies) | |
| NHS hostesses (catering is most of role) | |
| Hostels | Private rental properties such as Airbnb. |
| Campsites/Butlins etc (need to have facilities – café, bar etc) Catering at fun fairs, theme-parks or attractions |
Theme Parks, static caravan sites (where people live or have a holiday home) |
| Paid work in the industry People who are paid in kind (e.g. food and accom – religious retreats). Catering in prison by prisoners |
Voluntary work in our industry |
| Events company staff in the following roles: catering, bar staff, waiting staff | Events Company staff in the following roles*: Events Coordinators, Marketing and Sales Teams, Accounts/Finance/Admin roles. *If in doubt please contact us |
