Blog. Housing and mental health advice during the Coronavirus

March 19, 2020 | Author: Camilla Woods

This week has been an unprecedented and incredibly difficult one for the hospitality industry as we experience the seismic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on hospitality businesses with many having to close temporarily and either lay off some or all of their loyal staff and reduce working hours and pay.

Our industry trade association, UK Hospitality is currently pressing government for better and faster support for businesses and their employees.  Here at Hospitality Action we are inundated with requests for help and support from these very employees who are facing incredible hardship many of them unable to pay priority bills and put food on their tables.

You will have seen that in order to try to help these employees we have launched an emergency fundraising appeal over the last few days to try and build a significant fund of money so that we can introduce an emergency one-off payment to eligible hospitality workers directly impacted by the coronavirus.

We are so grateful for the amazing support so far for our emergency fund from both our fabulous industry supporters and also the donations and supportive messages from the general public.  We hope to be able make a further announcement about this emergency fund soon.  Do check out in on our website and social media Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn frequently as we are also posting regular updates as well as some heart-warming videos and messages from our hospitality family.

In the mean time you can continue to get emotional support and practical advice on legal matters, debt and benefits via our 24/7 helpline on 0808 802 0282 or on 0808 802 2111 if your employee is a member of our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).  We have also produced 2 new help sheets one looks at advice on what to do if you are worried about paying you rent/mortgage or other bills during the coronavirus outbreak and the other looks at ways to support your mental wellbeing during this difficult time.