100,000 Jobs Lost in the UK’s Hospitality Sector

In the United Kingdom, 16- to 24-year-olds make up around half of the hospitality workers in some roles. According to UKHospitality – the sector’s primary trade body –100,000 hospitality jobs have been lost since October 2024. Because many of these losses have fallen on early-career roles, students have borne a disproportionate share of the impact. This matters for students specifically as hospitality jobs are one of their main sources of income. A 2026 survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute, which drew 10,065 responses, found that 20% of students work in hospitality, second only to retail at 31%.

A Weak Labour Market

The shedding of jobs in the hospitality sector sits alongside a general weakening of the labour market in the UK. The UK Labour Force Survey (LFS) recorded an ILO unemployment rate of 5.0% during early 2026, representing roughly 1.81 million people out of work. The Bank of England has reported employers are reducing worker headcounts by not replacing individuals after redundancies. This has disproportionately affected accommodation and food services industries, creating an environment of precarity for young people entering the labour market. Vacancies have been below pre-pandemic levels since the beginning of 2025. Since mid-2025, the ratio of unemployed people to vacancies has been 2:5. This is the highest in ten years.

Rising Costs, Increasing Financial Hardship

A 2022 survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that 91% of higher education students disclosed that their costs of living had increased compared to the previous year. In the same survey, 50% of students reported they had financial difficulties. Moreover, 25% of students had taken on new debt in response to the rising cost of living, and 62% reported they were spending less on food and other essentials. The Higher Education Policy Institute’s student academic experience survey conducted in 2026 found that 65% of students in the UK were in paid employment. This finding is set against 2022 survey results, where 55% of students were in paid employment. The survey also found that students in paid employment work 13-14 hours a week during term time. In 2026, 14% of students were doing 16-20 hours of paid overtime on top of their studies.

Economic Strain Negatively Affecting Student Wellbeing

Financial pressure has been taking a measurable toll on how students experience university. A 2022 study by the ONS found the average life satisfaction score for higher education students stood at 5.8. This was well below the 6.9 recorded for the adult population in Great Britain. At the time, 91% of students said they were worried about the rising cost of living, and 77% were concerned it would affect their academic performance. 45% of the respondents reported a decline in their mental health and wellbeing, with those facing the most acute financial difficulty faring worst. This strain has continued to shape student life since. A 2023 Office for Students evaluation found that 56% of students had cut back on takeaways and nights out, while 32% scaled back on extracurricular activities and 30% on transport. These cuts carried their own academic cost: 33% of students said reducing this kind of spending had a negative impact on their ability to succeed in their courses, and 6% called the impact significant.

Alternate Coping Strategies

Due to increasing financial pressures and limited access to traditional sources of income, students are turning to a range of alternate coping strategies. Save the Student’s 2025 National Student Money Survey found that 57% of respondents would turn to their parents or family for support, 49% would use their savings, and 45% would use their overdrafts. This pattern can be identified in risk-centred forms of income. Beyond these conventional options, a smaller but notable share of students turned to riskier forms of income. Credit cards were the most common of these, reported by 15% of respondents, while gambling and drug trials each accounted for 6%. Further down the list, stocks and shares were reported by 4% of students, and cryptocurrencies, sex work, and private loans each accounted for 1-2%. While a small share overall, but one that points to how far some students are willing to go when conventional support runs short.

Institutional Responses

Universities and funding bodies have not been passive in the face of this strain. In 2023, the Office for Students commissioned a student poll on the cost of living, followed by roundtable discussions with university representatives. Three priorities emerged from those conversations: meeting students’ food needs, providing warm spaces on campus, and expanding hardship funds. Individual institutions have acted on this in different ways. The University of Manchester set up a cost-of-living group that campaigned for and delivered £170 payments to more than 90% of its students. Buckinghamshire New University made participation in all clubs, societies, and skills sessions free of charge. At the sector level, the Office for Students allocated £261 million of its government funding to universities and colleges in 2022-23 specifically to support access and participation. Taken together, these responses show both individual institutions and national funding bodies moving on the issue.

Loops to Jump Through

Some students feel there are still problems with the support offered. The process was often seen as difficult and unnecessarily detailed. A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for students raised that funds received often did not meet the students’ needs. Some measures outlined in the report by the APPG included providing three months of bank statements and justifying every payment above £50. A 2023 Sutton Trust poll found one student who had applied for financial aid waited a month for a decision. Reflecting on the process, the student said the system had come through for them once, but it was not one they felt they could rely on in a future emergency.

Mixed Experiences with Institutional Support

The 2023 Office for Students’ poll found that over a third of students knew their institution offered hardship funding and food support. However, opinion on whether that support has actually been adequate is split. 44% of students agreed that their university had done enough to help with the cost of living over the previous six months, while 27% disagreed. Institutions are visibly responding, but a significant share of students do not yet feel that response is working for them.