London pub workers get some of the highest pay rises in Britain

A recent study by specialist recruitment platform Catering for the Households found that UK hotel and hospitality sector staff got an average 9.5% pay rise last year.

Geographically, this most recent survey by hotel rental website Caterer.com, revealed the highest wage rises were in London (11.5%) and the North West (11.2%).

As against all other hospitality activity, restaurants provided the highest salary increases at 11.3%, an increase of 11.8% for entrants, compared to 10.8% for managers and experienced staff.

Kathy Dunball, director of Caterer.com, said: "As the long-standing skills shortage continues to impact the sector, hospitality employers are focused on offering competitive salaries and benefits to attract and retain the people they need.

In looking at rewards and benefits catering workers expect from their employers that they have not before, the top perks cited by workers include bonus payments (21.3%), mental health and wellbeing days (19.3%) and health insurance coverage (17.8%).

There are reports of a sharp increase in the number of British workers searching for job opportunities in the hospitality sector, and thousands of people looking for new and/or extra incomes in pubs, restaurants and hotels.

29.2% of British hospitality employers are also concentrating on offering competitive remuneration and benefits in order to attract top talent, i.e. pensions (47.2%), competitive annual leave (43.8%) and bonuses (43.8%).