INDUSTRY NEWS

The UK Government reintroduced a number of schemes last month and tweaked others to help businesses during the next phase of the pandemic. Here’s what you need to know…

1 FURLOUGH SCHEME EXTENSION

On Thursday 5 November, the Chancellor confirmed the UK Government’s Furlough Scheme (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) would be extended until the end of March 2021. This will cover 80% of employee wages for hours not worked with businesses only having to pay National Insurance and pension contributions. The £2,500 cap is proportional to the hours not worked and businesses will be paid upfront to cover wage costs. As under the original scheme, part-time furloughing is allowed in addition to full-time furloughing.

2 JOB SUPPORT SCHEME WILL COMMENCE IN MARCH 2021

The Job Support Scheme was due to start on 1 November, but it has been postponed until the Furlough Scheme ends in March 2021. When it does come into force, it will help businesses who are legally required to close by covering the cost of two thirds of employees’ salaries where they can’t work for a week or more. Employers must cover National Insurance and pension contributions where applicable. If businesses are still open but adversely affected by Coronavirus, the UK Government is making it easier to keep employees on.

3 UK SELF-EMPLOYED INCOME SUPPORT SCHEME

The UK Government is offering two Self-Employed Income Support Scheme grants, each available for three-month periods covering November 2020 to January 2021 and February 2021 to April 2021. The grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering a threemonth period. The first grant will cover a three-month period from 1 November 2020 until 31 January 2021. The Government will provide a taxable grant covering 80% of three months average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total. This is an increase from the previously announced amount of 55%.

The second grant will cover a three-month period from 1 February 2021 until 30 April 2021. The Government will review the level of the second grant and set this in due course.

The grants are taxable income and also subject to National Insurance contributions.

4 BUSINESS PREMISES GRANTS

Business premises forced to close in England from 5 November to 2 December 2020 are to receive grants worth up to £3,000 per 28-day period under the Local Restrictions Support Grant. Also, £1.1bn is being given to Local Authorities, distributed on the basis of £20 per head, for one-off payments to enable them to support businesses more broadly.

5 MORTGAGE HOLIDAYS

Mortgage holidays are being extended so borrowers who have been impacted by COVID-19 and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.

6 BUSINESS GRANTS FOR ENGLAND

Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible as follows:

■ For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks.

■ For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks.

■ For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over, grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks. Visit your local authority’s website to find out how to apply.

7 JOB RETENTION BONUS

The Job Retention Bonus is a £1,000 one-off taxable payment to the employer for each eligible employee that you furloughed and kept continuously employed until 31 January 2021. You’ll be able to claim the bonus between 15 February 2021 and 31 March 2021. You do not have to pay this money to your employee. Go to gov.uk at the end of January 2021 for details on how to claim the bonus.

8 BUSINESS INTERRUPTION LOAN SCHEME

The Business Interruption Loan Scheme provides loans of up to £5m, with no interest due for 12 months. The UK Government guarantees 80% of the finance to the lender and pays interest and any fees for the first 12 months. The scheme is open for applications until 31 January 2021.

9 BOUNCE BACK LOAN

The Bounce Back Loan helps small and medium businesses borrow between £2,000 and £50,000 (up to 25% of their turnover). The Government guarantees 100% of the loan and there won’t be any fees or interest to pay for the first 12 months. After 12 months the interest rate will be 2.5% a year. The scheme is open for applications until 31 January 2021.

Please note: This information was correct at the time of going to press. Please go to hji.co.uk and the official gov.uk website for the latest official UK Government guidance and financial schemes available.

The Real Living Wage rates for 2020-21 have been announced as £9.50 in the UK, rising by 20p, and £10.85 in London which is a 10p increase. The Real Living Wage is separate from the statutory National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. It is set by the Living Wage Foundation – not the UK Government. This means UK employers pay it voluntarily. 

In regards to the impact on the hairdressing industry Keith Conniford, registrar of the Hair and Barber Council said: “Whilst we welcome any increase in the Real Living Wage, we have to consider that employers will struggle with this increase given the months they have been forced to close, with no income during these periods, whilst their fixed costs in many cases have remained the same.

“The UK Government should be supporting these increases and supporting the industry financially, as they are doing with the hospitality sector, and not relying on employers to foot an ever-increasing bill with ever-decreasing income levels through no fault of their own.”

The British Beauty Council and a number of UK hairdressers have joined forces to ask the UK Government to cut the VAT for hair salons from 20% to 5% as was done to help the hospitality industry in August.

“If the UK Government can support hospitality through Eat Out to Help Out and give them a VAT reduction, why can’t they do it for hairdressing?” asks British Beauty Council CEO Millie Kendall. “This is an industry that contributes billions to GDP. Hairdressers are determined entrepreneurs, investing in their own businesses to establish their own fi nancial security and that of their families. In short, they are exactly the sort of people we need to re-build the economy, which is why we need to protect their businesses now and into the future.”

HOW CAN YOU STOP THE CAMPAIGN
■ Sign the online UK Government petition called ‘Reduce VAT to 5% for the Hair & Beauty Industry Inline with Hospitality.’
■ Spread the word with fellow hairdressers and clients online by using the #ChopTheVAT hashtag and sharing the #ChopTheVAT Image on your social media channels. You can also encourage your colleagues, friends and clients to do the same.

The L’Oréal Professional Products Division has launched Salon Support Guides to offer guidance to salon owners in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The L’Oréal Professional Products Division Salon Support Guides are available for free on L’Oréal Access UK and ROI and L’Oréal Partner Shop (UK only) to support salons and hairdressers as they face temporary closures. The guides cover communications advice and social media tips for open salons as well as those that are temporarily closed. There is also a summary of the Government support available, helpful links and details on upcoming education events.

“We are thinking of our hairdressing partners,” said Béatrice Dautzenberg, L’Oréal Professional Products Division UK & Ireland managing director.

She added: “We want to affi rm our total solidarity. We are here to help you navigate this challenging time. Together with industry trade bodies, we are working to provide you with useful information with care for you, your teams and clients being the number one priority.”

The company has also launched a ‘Support Your Local Salon’ Facebook fi lter. It can be found by typing ‘L’Oréal Support Local’ when searching profi le picture frames, and can be added to your profi le picture to show your support for our industry during these challenging times.

Concept Hair has named its Apprentice of the Year as well as the winners of its eight competitions. Ryan Mossop, from Nelson & Colne College (pictured right) was awarded Concept Hair Apprentice of the Year as well as the Colouring Award.

The other winners included: Styling Level 1 – Rabia Khan Muhammad; Styling Level 2 – Rayna Kovacheva; Hair Up Level 2 – Samantha Twist; Hair Up Level 3 – Lauren Hobbs; Barbering Level 2 – Samuel Winson; Barbering Level 3 – Ethan Daniels; Avant-garde winner – Ella Templeton and the Fellowship Spotlight Award was given to Rayna Kovacheva.

Concept Hair Learner of the Year 2021 entrants are submitting their work for the first photographic round this month, with winners going through to a second photographic round ahead of a final in March. 

For more information go to concepthairmag.co.uk/ events/.

It is with great sadness that HJ reports award-winning barber and hairdresser Sam Wall has passed away. Sam brought talent and joy to both the hair and barbering industries. He was a true creative and our thoughts are with his family and friends at this diffi cult time. The industry has come together to raise money to support men’s health and Movember in loving memory of Sam Wall. Each member of Team Mr Sam Wall ran 60km last month for the men’s charity Movember. The team included Kevin Luchmun, Ky Wilson, Alan Beak, Jody Taylor, Leah Hayden, Robi Ham and Charlie Cullen. You can still donate money to the Movember page in support of Sam Wall by going to uk.movember.com/team/2388727.

A new SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) report reveals the UK hairdressing industry and other non-essential retail are not to blame for rising COVID-19 infection rates. In fact, the UK hairdressing industry has only contributed ‘up to 0.05’ of the ‘R’ number. This is the number the UK Government uses to measure COVID-19 infection rates, according to SAGE.

This announcement follows discussions and debates between The Hair and Barber Council and BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) about the safety of hair salons and barbershops for clients and staff. The Hair and Barber Council has lobbied to get the SAGE report results released over a number of weeks and the results reveal, that as they believed, the UK hairdressing industry only makes a minimal contribution to the overall ‘R’ rate or number of COVID-19 infections.

The Hair and Barber Council CEO and registrar, Keith Conniford said: “We’ve had lots of discussions to find out what effect our industry is having on the transmission of infections. We’re delighted to see that all the hard work by hair and barber salons to ensure businesses are COVID-19-safe have paid off, and we will continue to fight for the industry to be properly supported in recognition of this.”

Support Your Salon is a new initiative that launched last month to help UK hair salons receive an income from retail sales while having to close due to Coronavirus restrictions. Set up by Jeff Letter, managing director at Penney’s Hair Group, clients can support their favourite local salon by purchasing professional products and Christmas gifts using the website, which acts as an online shop for a salon’s offi cial website. Clients type in the name of their local salon and its postcode into the website at the point of purchase, and the salon receives a share of the money.

If you want to join the initiative you can register your salon at supportyoursalon.shop