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ABTA Lifeline

ABTA LifeLine to launch £2 per employee appeal at The Travel Convention With the cost of living crisis and an increasing number of people seeking support from ABTA LifeLine, the charity will be launching its £2 per employee appeal in Marrakech and wants Members to get behind it. Many people in travel were adversely impacted by the pandemic, especially those on reduced income due to furlough, the self-employed that didn’t qualify for income support, and those who lost their jobs. And now the industry is facing the cost of living crisis. Trudie Clements, ABTA LifeLine Director, said: “LifeLine is seeing an increasing number of people coming to us for support and advice. Many are worrying about how they are going to pay their bills, or wondering which bills they should pay first. Others are concerned about getting further into debt and how they are going to be able to feed their family. “LifeLine has never more been needed, which is why the charity is asking all ABTA Members to support its £2 Per Employee Appeal. If every Member, no matter how big or small, joined the appeal, those pounds added together would make a real difference to colleagues and their families in a time of need.” There are several different ways ABTA Members can take part: Donate £2 for every employee you have Do both by ‘match funding’ every £2 collected from employees Set up a payroll giving scheme for your employees Make a corporate donation. To pledge your support, please contact tclements@abta.co.uk. For further information, contact: press@abta.co.uk or 0203 117 0596 Out of Hours: contact the duty press officer 020 3693 0183 Web: www.abta.com Twitter: @ABTAMembersAbout ABTA LifeLine ABTA LifeLine is ABTA’s charity for past and present employees of ABTA Members. The charity provides support for the unexpected moments in life such as redundancy, relationship breakdown, accidents and bereavement among many other things. It gives practical, financial and emotional assistance to travel colleagues that are really struggling, throwing them a LifeLine in their time of need. ABTA responds to Chancellor’s Growth Plan ABTA – The Travel Association has responded to the Government’s Growth Plan. Luke Petherbridge, Director of Public Affairs at ABTA – The Travel Association said: “Today’s announcement is the first indication we’ve had from the new Government about their plans for the economy and public finances “This is a Government focused on growth, which outbound travel businesses have a strong track record in delivering when supported by the right tax and policy framework. “The plan does include some savings for business, such as the reversal of the 1.25% rise in National Insurance contributions, which was due in April 2023, and cancellation of the planned rise in corporation tax, and comes on the back of help outlined in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme which was announced on Wednesday. “However, the Government could have gone much further with plans to support businesses beyond the current financial year, which would have benefited our Members. We strongly urge the Government to take the opportunity to use the full Budget statement to extend business rates relief support beyond April 2023, and to look at how Government could work with the banks to ease the pressure of COVID loan repayments. “We’ll also be working to make the case to Government that the support with energy bills needs to be available to travel businesses beyond the initial six-month period, especially given travel restrictions were only removed in March 2022, and the industry is behind other sectors in terms of its recovery.” For further information, contact: press@abta.co.uk or 0203 117 0596 Out of Hours: contact the duty press officer 020 3693 0183 Web: www.abta.com Twitter: @ABTAMembersABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members. We help our Members and their customers navigate through today’s changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal. ABTA has around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com. Meyrem Ali | Media and PR Officer E: mali@abta.co.uk | T: +44 (0)203 117 0531| M: +44(0)7557 686 459 | | www.abta.com ABTA Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 551311. Our registered office is at 30 Park Street, London, SE1 9EQ. This email is intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete the email (and any attachments) immediately; do not copy or disclose the information. This email may contain information or legal advice which is privileged and therefore not disclosable to third parties or in court action. Although ABTA Limited has taken reasonable precautions to ensure no viruses are present in this email, we cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage sustained as a result of computer viruses and you must check that the email (and any attachments) are virus free. For information about how we process personal data, please see our Privacy Notice https://www.abta.com/privacy-notice. ABTA Limited is following the Government’s measures and guidance aimed at reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and therefore most of our staff are working at home. Where you can, please communicate with us by email or by

Darren Shortt March 30, 2023

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Reeves expected to approve inflation busting pay hikes for public sector workers

Rachel Reeves is expected to approve above-inflation pay rises for millions of public sector workers next week, amid concerns over the cost of further industrial action if the Government refuses. The Chancellor is set to respond to the recommendations of independent pay review bodies on Monday, when she will also argue in Parliament that the Tories left Labour with a dire spending inheritance, including a £20 billion black hole. She could reportedly also announce delays to a string of major capital projects to plug the shortfall. Teachers and some 1.3 million NHS staff could be in line for a 5.5% pay boost, which could cost about £3.5 billion more than had been budgeted for. Economists believe this could rise to about £10 billion if other pay review bodies give similar advice on workforces such as police and prisons officers and doctors and dentists. Sir Keir Starmer has previously acknowledged there would be a cost if failing to follow the recommendations of the pay review bodies led to a fresh wave of industrial disputes in the public services. Labour did not deny reports that Ms Reeves could on Monday make the same argument as she signs off on the pay increases despite the shortfall in Government funding plans. The findings of a Treasury spending audit she will detail will reveal “the true scale of the damage the Conservatives have done to the public finances”, a Labour source said. An early assessment has reportedly found a nearly £20 billion annual gap between revenues and funding commitments. Public sector pay rises well above the 3% expected by the Treasury will put extra pressure on spending under Ms Reeves’ self-imposed fiscal rules, which include having debt falling as a share of gross domestic product in five years’ time. Extending the 5.5% pay boost – which is above inflation at 2% – to the entire public sector could cost some £10 billion a year, according to the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). As this cost has not been fully budgeted for in current plans, the cash would have to be raised through existing fiscal headroom, tweaking fiscal rules or tax increases. Any tax hikes to meet those costs would not be expected before the autumn budget, the date of which Ms Reeves is also set to announce on Monday. Labour has ruled out lifting income tax, VAT, national insurance and corporation tax, potentially leaving changes to pensions relief and capital gains and inheritance levies on the table. Ms Reeves could also delay a string of key hospital and road schemes she will argue are “unfunded with unfeasible timelines”, according to the Financial Times. Road projects whose cost estimates have been driven up by inflation and the Tories’ pledge to build or expand 40 hospitals could be postponed, the newspaper reported. The Labour Government will not “duck difficult decisions” in its budget, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said on Friday. He told Times Radio: “What I think we have found shocking is the state of the public finances in the year that we’ve inherited and that means tough choices … as the Chancellor, (Ms Reeves) will continue to show iron discipline and she will have the full support of the entire Cabinet. “Because these aren’t just tough choices for the Chancellor, these are tough choices for all of us and we’re determined to meet that challenge, to be honest with people, to not duck the difficult decisions and to make sure that we make the right choices now that set Britain up for the longer-term success that we need.” Rishi Sunak’s Tory government was plagued by strike action protesting years of declining wages for public sector workers. Most of the unions eventually struck pay deals with ministers, but Mr Streeting is currently negotiating with junior doctors in a bid to resolve their long-running pay dispute. The Labour source said: “On Monday, the British public are finally going to see the true scale of the damage the Conservatives have done to the public finances. “They spent taxpayers’ money like no tomorrow because they knew someone else would have to pick up the bill. “It now falls to Labour to fix the foundations of our economy and that work has already begun.” Ms Reeves could point to the soaring spending forecasted to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels, which – at around £10 billion a year – is more than three times previously thought, The Telegraph reported. IFS director Paul Johnson said Labour “knew to a large degree how bad things are in terms of the public finances” before going into government. “We and many others have made it very clear that it was going to be very hard to avoid cuts over the next few years given the proposals made by the previous government… “I’ve no doubt they have discovered some specific issues, and particularly about how tough things are this year or immediately, which wouldn’t have been quite so evident from the public pronouncements. So my guess is that that’s what they’re going to focus on on Monday.” Published: 27/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

Paris Olympics off to a sodden start with a rain drenched opening ceremony

Paris welcomed the Olympic Games with an opening ceremony like no other as athletes sailed down the River Seine to the sound of Lady Gaga and more, but relentless rain put a dampener on the party. Zinedine Zidane starred in a video to tee up the arrival of the Olympic flame before flares set off from the Austerlitz Bridge formed a tricolore. A total of 85 boats then began carrying the team delegations on a six-kilometre journey through the centre of Paris, with more than 300,000 spectators lining the banks of the river. But as the night went on unabating rain grew steadily heavier, it was not so much a ceremony on the water as one in it, with athletes left sodden as they waved their flags. As they did so, performers kept the script to deliver an array of performances that sought to convey the story of Paris and of France. Lady Gaga was the first to steal the show, bursting forth from behind a pair of out-sized pink pom-poms to deliver a burlesque take on the French classic ‘Mon truc en plume’. The performances came in all shapes and sizes, with Gojira adding a dramatic twist of heavy metal. British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was among those watching from the main stadium in the Jardins du Trocadero, donned in a Team GB rain jacket while others were decked out in ponchos. Other famous faces within the stadium – aside from IOC president Thomas Bach and French president Emmanuel Macron included Ariana Grande, Serena Williams and John Legend. With the rain getting increasingly heavy, one of the big screens in the stadium relaying pictures of the parade to the watching dignitaries temporarily failed a little over an hour in. That came just before the Great Britain team hit the screens, with Andy Murray among those accompanying flagbearers Tom Daley and Helen Glover. Once at the Trocadero, athletes – having long since abandoned any hope of keeping dry – began to gather by the long stage down the centre of the temporary stadium, which staff were busily trying to keep free of standing water with mops. The biggest boat of all was reserved for hosts France, who rounded off the flotilla on a packed vessel that looked more like a ferry as dance music cranked up the atmosphere. The rain finally began to ease off – but not stop – as a performance of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ was accompanied by a call for peace. Published: 26/07/2024 by Radio NewsHub

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