The UK’s events and experiences industry is worth over £84 billion and supports over 700,000 jobs directly and indirectly. It is an industry that relies on footfall and consumer confidence, and as such Covid-19 has had a hugely detrimental impact on the industry.
A recent report by One Industry One Voice, a coalition of events industry associations and businesses, highlighted the impact Covid-19 has had on the industry. It noted that over 500,000 jobs were at risk due to the continued uncertainty and, on average, businesses operating in the industry had experienced an average 89.5% year on year fall in revenue as of August 2020.
While the recent route map out of Covid-19 has been welcomed by the industry, it has left many wondering whether they should take the risk of organising and facilitating large scale events without a cast iron guarantee that they will go ahead as planned.
Else Solicitors advise a variety of companies on issues relating to events. Since Lockdown 1.0 we have assisted clients in dispute resolution with customers where large scale events are cancelled.
With 77% of events and exhibition businesses having paused trading completely at some point since lockdown, while it is estimated that over 800 major exhibitions have been cancelled since March amounting to over £8 billion of lost economic impact.
Against that backdrop, the need for resolutions to be found to these problems is more pertinent now than ever before. Ordinarily, there is usually a commercial solution in these circumstances and at Else, we focus on working with our clients to achieve these solutions regardless of whether we are representing the customer, sponsor, venue or event management team.
It is important to preserve these relationships and we aim to achieve this result within the contractual obligations existing between the parties. The alternative to a fairly negotiated solution is litigation and potential adverse consequences.
In light of these issues, we have identified contractual amendments that give practical assistance to event management company clients, venues and also specialist suppliers.
For more information please contact Chris Else on 01283 526200.