PM slashes business rates for pubs & clubs – but not beauty salons
By Helena Biggs | 24 July 2026 | News & Events
Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, who was sworn into office on 20 July 2026, has slashed business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues by 20% to ‘support the backbone of the high street’ – however personal care businesses have been excluded from this relief.
The measures, which will begin from April 2027, are part of the UK Government’s wider plan to ‘drive good growth in every postcode, by reducing the burden on local businesses, boosting investment on high streets and helping communities to thrive.’
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In a statement on 23 July, Burnham shared: “This government will back the businesses that people want to see in their communities. I said I would protect pubs and local high streets – the beating heart of our communities – and that’s what we will do. What we’re announcing today is just the start as we work to bring back hope across the country.”
Pubs and music venues received a 15% business rate relief in April 2026, and the new measures reduce their bills by an additional 20%. This package of support is worth around £100 million a year, yet those representing the personal care sector have been left disappointed by its exclusion from the benefit – with the British Beauty Council calling it a ‘slap in the face’.
Millie Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, comments: “With 196,563 businesses across the personal care sector, hair and beauty salons and retailers outnumber pubs across small, medium and large high streets, as well as all urban and suburban areas.
“Our sector is 86% female-led, with half the workforce between 18 and 35 years-old. Not only that, 45% of its businesses sit in areas of highest deprivation – providing vital employment, apprenticeship pathways, and community wellbeing where it is needed most.
“Unlike pubs, which enjoy flexible licensing frameworks to pivot business models, scale standing capacity, or offer alfresco dining, a salon’s revenue is strictly bound to its physical station layout. Rising rateable values have already hit salon margins with unmatched severity, forcing commercial spaces to close and displacing taxable activity off the high street.
“If the Government is serious about building an economy that works for every postcode, HM Treasury must stop picking winners and treat retail, hospitality and leisure as the interdependent ecosystem it is. We implore the Chancellor to extend equivalent business rates relief across personal care at the upcoming Budget.”
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Carolyn Harris MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Beauty, Hair and Wellbeing, expressed her ‘profound disappointment’ of the continued exclusion of the beauty industry from Government support. In an open letter to Rt Hon John Healy MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, she wrote: “Beauty makes a huge £28.3 billion contribution to the UK GDP and employs almost 600,000 people. Beauty is also the backbone of the British high street.
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“Personal care and beauty amenities make up 36% of all leisure and recreation amenities on our high streets, so if the Government is serious about backing the businesses that people want to see in their communities, it cannot continue to ignore beauty’s outsized contribution.
“The beauty industry continues to face significant post-pandemic headwinds. Employment and GDP contribution fell by 2.8% and 3.9% respectively in the past year. Despite this, the industry was excluded from the 15% business rates given to other sectors [in April 2026] and will now be excluded from yet another 20% discount being given to these same businesses next year.
“Including the personal care industry in the business rates relief package would give a much-needed boost to struggling salons, spas and beauty stores across the country.”
“Given the size of the beauty industry’s contribution to our economy, the number of people – and especially women – it employs, its centrality to our high streets and the significant challenges it is facing, there is no good reason for its continued exclusion from support.”
The National Hair and Beauty Federation (NHBF) is urging members and businesses across the personal care sector to write to their MPs to encourage support from the new Government.
Image courtesy of Linkedin.com
Sam Silver, NHBF head of public policy & affairs, adds: “Our sector is every bit as important to thriving communities as hospitality. Unlike many businesses, we can’t move online or relocate to warehouses – we’re rooted in our local high streets. Extending business rates relief to hair, beauty, barbering and aesthetics businesses would be an investment in jobs, apprenticeships, community wellbeing and the future of Britain’s high streets. If the Government is serious about backing local businesses, our sector must be part of that vision.”
