Data reveals Yorkshire's restaurant bill from Rishi Sunak's Eat Out To Help Out scheme

The data released by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs today (Friday) revealed the extent of diners in the region taking advantage of the scheme, which was rolled out following the re-opening of restaurants in July.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the Government would pick up 50 per cent of restaurant bills three days a week throughout August in a bid to boost the struggling hospitality sector's income following the easing of restrictions in the first coronavirus lockdown.

Figures show that 5,032 businesses across Yorkshire & the Humber claimed through the scheme, with 9.39m meals claimed.

HMRC picked up a £52,798,000 bill for people venturing back out to onto Yorkshire's dining scene – a hefty cost but still under half the price tag of the discount claimed by London's 10,049 restaurants using the scheme, which claimed back £105m.

The average amount claimed for by Yorkshire's outlets was £10,500, while the average discount per meal in the region worked out as £5.64.

Overall, figures show that more than 106 million meals were claimed for across the UK, totalling over £611 million.

UKHospitality Chief Executive Kate Nicholls said although the scheme was a “welcome boost” to businesses, more now needs to be done by the Government to help businesses through the new national lockdown.

Ms Nicholls said: “The Eat Out To Help Out scheme is now unfortunately a deep and distant memory in light of the subsequent restrictions and enforced closures suffered by so many businesses.

“These numbers highlight how the sector grabbed this opportunity and played its part in rebuilding customer confidence in eating and drinking out and helped power the wider economy.

“Hospitality can play this role again and is desperate to do so once restrictions are lifted by offering safe and controlled environments for consumers to come back together.

“But we need further support from the Government, including a continuation of measures such as the VAT cut and business rates holiday, in order to revitalise the economy this year and beyond.”

HM Treasury said the scheme brought back over 400,000 people from furlough but did not specify whether it, or something similar, would return in the future.

A spokeswoman for the Treasury said: “As we have done throughout the pandemic, we have worked with creativity and at pace to support individuals and businesses.

“We designed The Eat Out to Help Out scheme to protect 2 million jobs in hospitality, an industry whose employees are at high risk of long-term unemployment in the event of redundancy.

“It protected jobs across the UK by bringing back 400,000 people from furlough whilst safely restoring consumer confidence.”

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