Hair & beauty businesses weekly income loss totals over £124 million

The new Tier 4 restrictions are set to cost hair & beauty businesses across the UK over £124 million per week in lost income, The National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF)  has warned.

New findings from the industry body have revealed the total of lost revenue per week, per region, seeing the hardest hit areas of the South East and North West losing a staggering £35 million and £17 million respectively.

The new stats by region:

The new findings come from the NHBF Key Industry Statistics 2020 report, which highlights the continued growth of the hair and beauty industry prior to Covid-19. This is in contrast with November NHBF data which indicated 62% of salon owners could not be sure their business would survive until the end of the financial year in April 2021, and almost a third of that number (18%) explicitly sure they would have to close.

The report, compiled in exclusive association with the Local Data Company, shows that at the beginning of the year barbershops, beauty salons and nail salons were the top three retail categories that saw the highest growth in the UK – above supermarkets, coffee shops, takeaways and pizza shops.

According to the Office for National Statistics there are nearly 45,000 hair and beauty salon businesses in the UK (a rise of over 1,000 since last year), which generated over £8 billion in turnover in 2018, up from £7.5 billion in 2017.

What’s more, the report cites how hair and beauty businesses pre-Covid-19 were having higher survival rates after five years than many other sectors, in particular nail salons whose survival rate after five years was 69%.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of National Hair & Beauty Federation

“The Key Industry Statistics report paints a picture of a strong and growing industry with business survival rates bucking the decline of the high street,” says Richard Lambert, NHBF chief executive.

“It is characterised by a high percentage of female entrepreneurs, supporting young people into careers and its positive approach to flexible working.

However, this was before the coronavirus pandemic and we know from our recent targeted surveys that the majority of hair and beauty professionals are struggling to recoup their losses from lockdowns, implementing social distancing measures and the costs of increased PPE.

“While we appreciate these are all necessary, the sector has not received any additional financial support such as those gifted to the arts, the sports sector, leisure or hospitality. Businesses simply cannot continue on this basis and we are continuing our pressure on the government to recognise this.

“Financial help to salons and professionals during this difficult time will be the only way to ensure the hair and beauty sector can return to where it was at the beginning of 2020.”

The full report and statistical tables can be found at www.nhbf.co.uk.

It is available free to NHBF members, or for £250 to non-members.