Two in five hair salons are at risk of closure over the “devastating” increased cost of employment set out in last month’s budget, industry leaders have warned.
Carla Whelan, chief executive of the Regis and Supercuts group of salons, said the increase in employer national insurance contributions “will see salons which have been around for many years close” as the £25 billion tax rise undermined profitability.
“This creates an impossible profit and loss for individual hair salons where labour is circa 50 per cent of the cost,” said Whelan, whose group is the largest “owned”, or non-franchise salon group, in the UK.
The chancellor’s decision to increase employer national insurance contributions by 1.2 percentage points to 15 per cent from April, and reduce the level