The British Beauty Council is urging the Government to act to help businesses rather than solely domestic households in the energy support measures unveiled by the Chancellor today.
It says that for 80% of hair and beauty businesses energy is one of their biggest overheads, putting the 600,000 people working across the hair and beauty industry, most heavily indexed in the most deprived areas of the country, at real risk of job losses.
“Whilst no one will argue that further support on energy bills in our homes is good news at a time when the cost of living is soaring, it’s still startling that the Treasury cannot see that without an extension of this support to include business premises, ultimately the public won’t have the jobs to pay bills at all. This is particularly relevant to small businesses, which account for 99% of the UK’s labour force and do not have the weight, buying power or influence of big businesses to negotiate better deals with their energy suppliers.
One in 60 people work across the hair and beauty industry and it is most heavily indexed in the most deprived areas of the country. If the Government is serious about levelling up and ‘building back better’ then it must recognise that failing to protect businesses makes business recovery a pipe dream. Besides spiralling energy bills, salons and retailers are suffering from higher wage costs, NI contributions and business rates – not to mention Covid loan repayments and increases to the cost of goods caused by fast-rising inflation.”
– Victoria Brownlie, Chief Policy Officer, British Beauty Council
