The Ministerial taskforce looking at the Hair, Barber and Beauty Sector will sit within the ‘Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial strategy’ (BEIS).

Patron of the British Beauty Council and Registrar of the Hair and Barber Council, Keith Conniford, held a webinar meeting on 15 May to speak with BEIS to discuss the issues and support the industry needs to reopen.

The aims and roles of the taskforces are to:

• Ensure that Covid-19 secure guidelines are developed in line with the phasing ambitions and public health directions, building on the existing (work settings) guidance and providing intelligence and sector specific expert input
• Agree and ensure alignment of all relevant sectoral guidance
• Provide key sector stakeholders direct access to ministers.

Membership of the taskforces may include:

• Secretary of State (Chair)
• Other government department ministers (or by invitation where relevant)
• Chief Scientific Advisor
• Public Health England
• Health and Safety Executive.

Others to be invited where required:

• Leads from specific subgroups including sector leads
• Trade union representatives
• Devolved administration experts
• Other relevant individual experts.

To recap, the changes to closed businesses and venues put in place from 13 May 2020 are:

Retail
To include hairdressers, barbers, beauty, and nail salons, including piercing and tattoo shops:

• To remain closed 

• Will be considered as part of Step 3 – engagement through taskforce on non-essential retail including salons 

• July 4 is the target date for the hair, barber & beauty sector to re-open, including mobiles and freelancers, providing the ‘R’ number remains below 1 in the time prior to this date.

The Hair and Barber Council’s office is closed at this time, but the team is still working from home. If you need to contact them, please do so at the following email addresses:

keith@haircouncil.org.uk 
sue@haircouncil.org.uk

Or reach out via their social media channels:

• Instagram: @hairandbarbercouncil
• Twitter: @hairbarbcouncil
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/HairAndBarberCouncil/.

We will continue to provide ongoing updates as per all guidelines and news on industry regulations on Beauty Bytes.