Salon owners urge Budget VAT cut as staffing pressures grow

**Salon owners call for Budget VAT cut as staffing pressures increase**

Marcus Perkins said rising costs were making it harder for salons to employ staff and train apprentices

After 22 years running a salon, Marcus Perkins says he is growing more concerned about the future of the hair and beauty industry.

He says rising costs are making it tougher for businesses to hire staff and invest in apprenticeships, while more salons are moving to self-employed models in order to stay afloat.

"Seeing salons close on the high street is very scary," he said. "I'm very scared myself. Luckily it hasn't happened yet but who knows what the future holds?"

Perkins is one of more than 2,000 salon owners who have signed an open letter urging the Chancellor John Healey to reduce VAT on hair and beauty services from 20% to 10% in this week's Budget.

The letter is supported by the British Hair Consortium (BHC), which says rising business costs are putting growing pressure on traditional salon employers.

At the same time, the sector has seen more stylists shift into self-employed arrangements, with hairdressers often renting a chair in a salon instead of being directly employed.

A Treasury spokesperson said hair and beauty businesses played an important role in supporting jobs, apprenticeships and thriving high streets.

They added that the sector had benefited from reforms to business rates.

Stylist Trearna Hart fears fewer salons will be able to train the next generation

Salon owners say they have also been hit by rises in wage, pension and National Insurance (NI) costs.

Ministers have defended the government's changes to employers' NI contributions and increases to the minimum wage as part of broader efforts to improve pay, support public services and drive economic growth.

The BHC said cutting VAT would help businesses hire more staff, invest in training and keep more salons operating on the high street.

Perkins said he believed it would make a major difference.

"We can grow the business and employ more people," he said.

He runs M&M Spa in Quarry Bank, near Brierley Hill, where he says he has trained more than a dozen young people over the past two decades.

One of them is 21-year-old stylist Trearna Hart, who said many of her peers had found it difficult to build careers after leaving college.

She said she was lucky to find an employer willing to invest in her development.

Dorothy Senior says visiting her salon is about more than having her hair and nails done

This year alone, Perkins said he had spent about £2,000 on courses and travel costs to support her training.

"It's upsetting really," he said. "We help people, we train, we nurture, we mentor. We help the next generation because if we don't help the next generation, what happens to our future?"

The BHC said apprenticeship numbers had fallen sharply and warned the trend could get worse if pressure on employer-run salons continued.

Perkins believes businesses that employ and train staff are increasingly competing with models built around self-employed workers.

He says that creates an "unlevel playing field" because traditional salons often bear the cost of training future hairdressers.

Hart said the disappearance of salons from high streets was worrying.

"At the rate it's going we're not going to have many salons left open and there's no-one going to be able to do hair," she said.

The difficulties facing the sector are also troubling some customers.

Research from the British Beauty Council highlighted the role hair and beauty businesses play in supporting local high streets, encouraging spending and offering opportunities for social connection.

Dorothy Senior has been going to M&M for hair and beauty treatments for the past 20 years.

She said the salon meant far more than just appearances.

"Every time I come in I go home feeling so much better," she said. "It isn't just having nails and hair done, it's the whole package."