NHBF warns of ‘devastating future’ without further financial support

New research from industry body, the National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF), is warning of a bleak outlook for the hair and beauty industry if the government does not step up with additional financial support.

From a new survey by the NHBF, the federation has predicted boarded-up shop fronts, significant job losses and a major mental health and wellbeing crisis across the sector.

The survey was conducted  to obtain information about the impact the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had on businesses, speculating on what further support could be needed.

The most significant findings from the study include:

• 62% could not be sure their business would survive until the end of the financial year, with almost a third of that number (18%) explicitly sure they would have to close.
• 56% could not rule out further redundancies without government support when the furlough scheme ends. 1 in 9 (12%) were certain that redundancies would be likely.
• 53% of respondents had cut staff hours in order to save costs. This rose to 61% when looking at the beauty sector alone.
• 2 in 5 (38%) of salons in the beauty sector were not earning enough to cover outgoings such as rent, overheads, staff costs and stock etc. Across the hair and beauty sector as a whole, only 2 in 5 are just about breaking even.
• 1 in 8 business owners (13%) had already made redundancies as a result of the pandemic.
• 1 in 11 (9%) had not received any financial support
• Only 4% were likely to take on new staff in next 3 months or take on apprenticeships despite recent government incentives.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of National Hair & Beauty Federation 2020

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the NHBF said: “The responses to the survey starkly show that the future of hair and beauty sector is bleak without targeted help from the government. Without this, we could be approaching the next financial year with boarded-up shop fronts, significant job losses and a major mental health and wellbeing crisis.”

“As a client-facing, service-based sector, the hair and beauty industry has been hit hard by continued closures and lockdowns without the ability to adapt and generate income through other means, such as online sales etc.”

For more about the NHBF, visit www.nhbf.co.uk