The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, announced the 2021 Budget for the UK in March. It was designed to ‘meet the moment’ and help businesses across the country to recover from the losses of last year. If you work in hair and beauty, you should be aware of how the Budget impacts your industry. There are grants and schemes in place to help you.

Grants

The beauty industry can expect to see more business grants. In particular, there is a new Restart Grant in April. This is aimed to help businesses ‘get going again.’ Since non-essential retail businesses will open up first, they will be one of the first sectors available to receive the money. You may able to claim up to £6,000 per premise. Mr Sunak has said he knows these grants may not be enough for certain businesses, and a new recovery loan scheme will also be introduced.

Self-Employed

If you are a self-employed beauty technician, running a mobile service or your own nail bar, there are other ways you can get help. The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme will continue for a fourth and fifth grant. This Scheme will offer three months of support at 80% of average trading profits. As the country is set to reopen this summer, the government aims to help people most impacted by the pandemic.

Furlough Scheme

If you are employed by a salon, you’ll be pleased to know that the furlough scheme will be extended until September 2021, paying 80% of your wages. The government wants to help protect jobs and livelihoods. While discussing wages, it’s worth noting that National Living Wage has been increased to £8.91. This can mean you could earn an extra £345 a year.

VAT

The government did not include the Personal Care sector with its 5% VAT cut. Professionals in the industry have spoken out their concerns with this. Hellen Ward, a co-founder of the Save Our Salons campaign, said: “Part of the problem before was that we didn’t have our own sector. Now we do and we have a direct voice into the people heading up the personal care sector, and they are asking us for information and data. They are listening to us so don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere."

Overall those in the beauty industry welcome the government’s grants and schemes that have been announced to aid recovery. How has the Budget impacted your business?