At this juncture you will correctly remind me that this is expected , as there are insufficient codes , but all of the agencies I selected do involve themselves with conferences , so why not select that code , which is available ? Businesses can select multiple codes , not just one .
That , though , is beside the point . The real issue here is that every events business that has not registered as one of the three events-assigned SIC codes ( regardless of their accuracy ), is essentially contributing to other sectors . SIC codes are the tools in which a sector is measured .
When the chancellor of the exchequer , Rishi Sunak , was going through his list of which sectors he saves and which he doesn ’ t see as worthy of saving ( in terms of their financial weight ), he was unwittingly looking at other sectors which have been inflated by events business .
This is no more true than with hotels in the hospitality sector . I do not have any official statistics , but we all know many events take place in hotels , either for the day or over multiple days . As you would expect , most of the hotels I checked out on Companies House
74990
93290
63990 are registered as ‘ 55100 - Hotels and similar accommodation ’, although weirdly not all . Some are also registered as ‘ 68209 - Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate ’. I don ’ t know why .
So , every time you pay your hotel venue for the events space , that money is not being viewed as event revenue in the eyes of the Treasury , but rather just making it look as if lots of people are staying at hotels . The same is true of sporting venues such as stadiums , which use event revenue as a secondary stream .
Venues which exist solely to service events are a mixed bag with how they are registered , only two on my list are related to the events industry . Some I couldn ’ t even find .
Then there are those on the supply-side of the industry , such as those providing event technology , exhibition stand building , signage and so on . Catering , mercifully , does have its very own SIC code , although one of the country ’ s largest contractors doesn ’ t actually use it , opting instead for ‘ 74990 - Non-trading company ’. Yes , I triple checked .
Many event technology firms are registered as ‘ 63990 - Other
68209
64209
55100
21
information Cover Story service activities not elsewhere classified ’ and one furniture hire company uses ‘ 93290 - Other amusement and recreation activities not elsewhere classified ’. One major supplier of event services isn ’ t registered as a UK company and therefore its ( presumed ) mammoth contributions aren ’ t registered in a way that would strengthen our case .
Dedicated organisers , albeit more on the exhibitions side than conferences , are the group which consistently uses the assigned SIC codes , perhaps unsurprisingly . There are a few weird ones , such as one organsier of note registering themselves as ‘ 64209 - Activities of other holding companies not elsewhere classified ’.
Ideally , what we want is for every business operating in the event supply chain to register themselves as an events business on the available codes in the short term , but it is understandable that some may want to do the opposite .
God forbid anything like this were to happen again , but people are going to look back at what businesses the Government decided to save during Covid-19 . Why would they willingly assign themselves to a sector that was essentially ignored ? Unless we all re-register using the available codes to show the strength of our sector , I can ’ t see that changing .
Of course , unless the SIC codes are revised ( and I can tell you that the Business Visits and Events Partnership ( BVEP ) is already working on this ), then we will never be recognised as the industry we know we truly are .
The Government will not pay attention to us when we tell them the events industry as a whole is ( or was ) worth £ 70bn to the UK economy each year . They are only interested in what the audited accounts on Companies House tells them , and right now , we are telling them we don ’ t exist . www . conference-news . co . uk