Written Submission from Creations Hair Salon Chiuchester LTD (SBS0078)

To Members of the UK Parliament

16th July 2025

Carolyn Sweeney Creations Hair Salon, established 1998

Support Needed for Sustainability in the Hairdressing Industry

Introduction Creations is a medium-sized, independent hair salon with 27 years of trading. Over that time, we’ve proudly trained and nurtured hundreds of apprentices who have gone on to become successful stylists, entrepreneurs, and salon owners.

As a long-standing and fully compliant employer in the personal care industry, we are calling on Parliament to take urgent action in three critical areas:

1. Create a level playing field through fair enforcement of rules across all operators
2. Introduce formal regulation of the hair and beauty profession
3. Provide targeted financial and apprenticeship support to help businesses like ours survive and thrive

Unequal Treatment in a Fragile Industry

As an employer, we fully comply with employment law, hygiene standards, tax obligations, and training requirements. Yet many others in the sector — particularly informal or cash-based barbershops, nail bars, and self employed operators — often operate without meeting basic standards.

This results in:

• Unfair competition from self-employed who:
• Avoid VAT
• Do not pay Employer National Insurance
• Have significantly lower overheads and regulatory burdens
• Rising costs for compliant employers like us, including:
• 20% VAT on services
• Annual increases in National Minimum Wage and ENIC
• Escalating energy bills
• Diminishing local tax relief or rate support

Today, around 60% of our income goes directly to wages, with rising costs eating into what little remains. For many, this has left hairdressing a low-margin, increasingly unsustainable profession — despite being essential to local economies, wellbeing, and employment.

Apprenticeships Under Threat

We are especially proud of our track record in apprenticeships:

85% of our current team of 27 stylists trained with us. These are highly skilled professionals we’ve developed through hard work, mentorship, and investment.

But due to increasing financial and administrative pressures, we’ve had to reduce the number of apprentices we take on. Barriers include:

• Increasing employment costs
• Limited government support for salons offering apprenticeships
• A complex and bureaucratic funding system
• Rising training costs without adequate financial backing

These risks undermining the future talent pipeline for the industry and deprives young people — especially women — of one of the few accessible, hands-on career pathways still widely available.

Urgent Actions We Urge Parliament to Take

1. Introduce statutory regulation of hair and beauty professionals

– Mandatory qualifications, registration, and a national code of conduct

2. Enforce existing tax and employment rules

– Address disguised employment and non-compliant self-employment

3. Reform VAT for labour-intensive services

– Consider a reduced rate for personal care, in line with sectors in other EU countries

4. Increase apprenticeship support

– Simplify funding access and provide grants to small and mid-sized employers who train

5. Offer cost relief to service-sector employers

– Specifically on energy bills, business rates, and employer contributions

Conclusion Hair and beauty businesses are more than just service providers — we are local employers, trainers, and a key part of community life and mental wellbeing. However, without meaningful reform, many more salons will close, apprenticeships will fall away, and employment in our sector will continue to decline.

We would welcome the opportunity to provide further evidence and insight to support these proposals and represent the many compliant, committed businesses working hard to sustain this vital industry.