Ready beforethe rush.
What a volatile summer taught the sector about labour, and the three decisions it forces before Christmas.
×
Not a survey
World Cup, record heat, tube walk-outs and rail strikes, all inside twelve weeks. This report shows what operators actually did: how fast they hired, who they lost, and where the labour pound worked hardest.
Three findings.
Three decisions.
If you read nothing else, read this.
Winners staffed up before demand moved.
Turnover fed straight back into trade.
A leaver now costs twice what it did in 2019.
The summer, in numbers.
Hiring, HR, scheduling and sales on one platform, joined at site level for the same weeks. Every number traces to the workbook.
Summer hires made without live labour data
Operators running hiring without workforce management flew the busiest quarter on last year’s instruments.
Median time to hire
QSR 3.3 · Pubs 7.5 · Hotels 11.0
Hires per week into summer
Candidate supply flat at 137,000 a week
Applications per hire, London
A screening problem, not a sourcing one
Sites past the amber line
9% already past red
Pub LFL swing
Index 80 (w/c 1 Jun) to 111 (w/c 13 Jul)
Median SPLH, Jun–Jul
+11% on Apr–May; fine dining down on a full rota
Foreword
What follows is not a survey. It is what 349 UK operators actually did.
Our Spring report described a sector separating into operators who could see their numbers and operators who could not. Summer was the stress test. This report asks what it taught us about labour, and what that means for the decisions in front of you now: Christmas, the 2027 plan, and whatever form the Employment Rights Act finally takes.
Read the full reportGet ahead of Christmas.
The full Summer 2026 report from Harri and Peach 20/20, built on real platform data rather than survey answers.
- The one-page read: three findings and the decision each forces
- Hiring, turnover and labour productivity by sector and region
- The real 2026 cost of a leaver, and what a one-point cut is worth
- A practical pre-Christmas checklist for operators