BBC Newsbeat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Salon owners are warning they might not be able to take on any new apprentices within two years due to financial pressures.<\/p>\n The British Hair Consortium, which represents 50,000 hairdressing professionals, is calling on the government to make changes to how they are taxed, saying the current system poses an “existential crisis”.<\/p>\n Apprentices have told BBC Newsbeat the schemes are an important opportunity for people who don’t want to pursue further education.<\/p>\n The government has been approached for comment but did not respond. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Salons pay VAT at 20% like most businesses but the British Hair Consortium say because the work they do is so labour intensive as opposed to selling products, they have less of a chance to make back those costs.<\/p>\n So to keep costs low, it says an increasing number of salons are opting to rent chairs instead of employing stylists to avoid paying the tax.<\/p>\n A report by CBI Economics found that is likely to have a knock-on effect on opportunities for apprentices.<\/p>\n It estimates that by 2027 there “may be no new apprenticeships offered and direct employment could plummet by 93% by 2030”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For 22-year-old apprentice Alex Ritchie, “it’s quite scary knowing that people won’t get that opportunity that we get”.<\/p>\n She’s training in Darlington, County Durham, and dreams of having her own salon one day but worries that without apprentices, the industry will really struggle.<\/p>\n “You can’t run a salon without having apprentices,” she says.<\/p>\n “They are your main support when you’re doing clients. It will have a massive impact on the amount of salons and how many clients they can take.”<\/p>\n Jezz Ellis is head of operations for Saks, a chain of salons, and says that unless things change, hairdressing apprenticeships will become less attractive.<\/p>\n Salons are facing a “perfect storm” he says, which will impact how many apprentices they can afford to train.<\/p>\n “You’ve got the VAT issue which has always been difficult.”<\/p>\n But there is also the growing issue of insecure or “disguised” employment resulting from fewer staff jobs being offered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This means while they might work to a salon’s rules and be treated like an employee, they’re actually self-employed so miss out on benefits like sick pay, maternity pay and pensions.<\/p>\n “And with National Insurance going up<\/a> and a national minimum wage increase<\/a>, it’s making it very difficult for those salons to increase their prices to meet the extra costs. <\/p>\n “All of those things added together is just crippling a lot of salons,” Jezz says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Adam Hussain, who’s working towards his level two apprenticeship in hairdressing, the benefits are big for people like him.<\/p>\n “Without this apprenticeship, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he says. “I’d probably be doing God knows what.<\/p>\n “Apprenticeships are really good – you get paid to learn, you’re learning on the job, it’s a very hands-on career.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The British Hair Consortium wants the government to act quickly ahead of the spring forecast<\/a> on 26 March, where the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will lay out economic plans for the future. <\/p>\n Although the government did not respond to Newsbeat’s request for comment, the Department for Education has previously said it was time apprenticeships were taken seriously. <\/p>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/5638\/live\/b3b58010-eec1-11ef-98e2-8b429dee1814.jpg.webp\")
BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Crippling a lot of salons’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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