It’s always been a mystery to me why sections of the public have such a negative view of big businesses, and believe they are less worthy of financial support in times of economic hardship.

Reading some comments on Twitter this week about greedy CEOs asking for more handouts, it strikes me that people are missing the point.

Yes, big businesses are likely to be led by a well-paid CEO and senior team, who may not be facing the loss of ‘their own’ business – although many of them are.

But big businesses also employ thousands of workers, and aren’t their jobs worth saving just as much as the waiting staff at your local independent restaurant?

As Peter Marks, chairman of Rekom UK told tome the other day, while “no one is going to feel sorry for us […] big businesses have big bills”. And as he knows big bills can mean businesses going belly up, as was the case with Rekom’s predecessor Deltic Group.

Unfortunately, it seems that government is prone to making big statements about supporting small businesses and neglecting the needs of larger employers.

In the run up to Liz Truss’ victory in the Conservative Party leadership contest, her team had been discussing proposals to expand business rates relief from premises with a rateable value of £15,000 to those valued at £25,000, meaning thousands more businesses would be spared from tax.

One senior operator pointed out to MCA that none of his more than 100 sites would qualify for this support. “Many will think help is coming when actually it’s just a sound bite,” he said. 

Meanwhile reports on what form a price freeze on energy bills could take have referenced that ‘small firms’ are expected to be included in the initiative.

Of course, it is absolutely right that smaller operators are supported, but the crisis with energy bills is not just something that is effecting businesses with lower cash flow, it’s adding millions of pounds on to the bottom line of the balance sheets of multi-site operators.

What the hospitality sector needs is a package of support that covers all operators, with the likes of UKHospitality and the NTIA recommending a reduction in the headline rate of VAT to 12.5%, and a business rates holiday, among other measures.

Businesses struggling with the cost of energy, labour and ingredients, aren’t failing due to poor management decisions, but due to economic headwinds out of their control, and they need help too.

With Truss poised to reveal her “bold” package of support measures later today (7 September), the sector waits with trepidation to see just who will be benefiting and how. Let’s hope she lives up to her comments in PMQs yesterday that the survival of the hospitality sector is “vital” to a prosperous economy.