As UK unemployment hits a five-year high and with the hospitality industry hit particularly hard, the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF) has responded with a dedicated jobs board to help people get back into the industry.

The board, which was launched on the BFFF website this week, has been created in partnership with MorePeople, a specialist recruitment business providing permanent and interim solutions for the food, horticulture and agriculture sectors.

BFFF members will be able to post their vacancies onto the jobs board, where there is also a MorePeople feed to showcase other industry vacancies.

Richard Harrow, BFFF chief executive, said: “According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of UK workers on payrolls has fallen by 813,000 since March 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic and we know many of these are in hospitality. Conversely, with consumer demand for frozen food soaring in lockdown, there are many businesses actively trying to grow their teams.

“It’s my hope that in the coming months this initiative will put recruiting companies in touch with those who have lost jobs and prove a valuable resource as our sector recovers from lockdown.”

At the end of 2020 it was reported hospitality was the sector worst hit by the pandemic, accounting for a third of the job losses, with bars and restaurants closed for months during the first lockdown and coping with strict compliance rules ever since.

Commenting on the partnership with BFFF, Andrew Fitzmaurice, director at MorePeople, said: “Over the course of the past six months we have seen a resurgence in confidence with our client’s recruitment plans, we are extremely busy and the competition for top talent remains tough. The food industry has proved itself to be a resilient and key part of our nation’s priorities. Whilst other industries such as hospitality and travel have been hard-hit, the food industry soldiers on – it’s great to see. 

“In an ever-changing world, with ever-evolving technologies, it’s important the food sector remains at the forefront and any new initiative to help a recruitment process is going to be welcomed. Hopefully the new BFFF online jobs board will play its part. I’m proud we’re part of this initiative to help match people with recruiting food businesses.”

The BFFF jobs board can be found at here. Any members wishing to promote their vacancies should contact harryhinks@bfff.co.uk.