Pubs and music venues had already received an exclusive 15% business rate relief in April. Today’s announcement takes an additional 20% off an already lower bill for pubs, while continuing to completely overlook the £28.3 billion personal care sector and the wider retail ecosystem. 

Compounding cost pressures have already halted the beauty industry’s post-pandemic growth trajectory, causing both GDP contribution and employment numbers to fall in the last twelve months. Overall employment decreased by 2.8% (from 612,000 to 595,000), while the GDP contribution dropped sharply from £29.4bn to £28.3 billion.

Millie Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, said: “Taking 20% off an already discounted bill for pubs while ignoring salons and retailers is a slap in the face for high street businesses striving to maintain a stable presence in our communities.

“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 18-35-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.”

The Council has welcomed a commitment to relook at small business rates relief and will be engaging with the Treasury on this and other vital support measures prior to the Autumn Budget.