A hairdresser has warned that rising taxes, wages and business costs are “absolutely clobbering” small salons, as she joins a growing ban on Labour MPs visiting her business.
Speaking to GB News, salon owner Kat Berale warned soaring National Insurance, VAT and staffing costs are forcing prices higher and pushing independent salons to breaking point.
Her comments come as hairdressing establishments follow more than 1,000 pubs in displaying “No Labour MPs” stickers on their premises following Rachel Reeves’s Budget.
The Chancellor has herself been barred from her local pub amid anger over soaring business rates.
Ms Berale told GB News “To be honest, we’re getting absolutely clobbered at the moment.
“Our National Insurance bill in previous years was £835. This year it’s £1,639. It varies, but we’re facing an additional £5,000 to £6,000 a month in costs.
“Then there’s VAT. In our industry, we don’t buy a lot of product it’s all in our skills so VAT is a horrendous monthly expense.
“We also have statutory sick pay from day one. Last year I had 43 days of sickness, which would have cost around £3,500 a year.”
Kat Berale said the soaring costs are dangerous for hairdressers
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GB NEWS
“I put all our expenses into a spreadsheet, and every time a cost goes up, prices have to go up as well. But at some point, people will just stop coming.
“We’re already the highest-priced salon in the town because our expenses are reflected in our prices.
“I’m still paying off a Bounce Back Loan. I need new furniture we’ve been here 11 years and everything needs updating. National minimum wage is going up, which means prices will rise again.
“Marketing costs are becoming more aggressive too. I can’t rely on a one per cent Facebook reach for free advertising anymore, so I have to pay for marketing strategies.”
Rachel Reeves has been banned from her local pub
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PA“A lot of hairdressers are going off on their own and opening salons in back gardens and I don’t blame them, because they keep all the money and don’t have to pay VAT and other costs.
“But I need to keep my staff happy. Christmas parties are basically gone I managed to take them out for a curry, thanks girls.
“We work as a team, and we’re also an eco brand, trying to stick to that ethos. But it’s incredibly hard when you’re constantly cutting costs everywhere just to keep prices competitive.”
Collette Osborne, who runs two Hairven salons in Nottinghamshire, has also placed “No Labour MPs” signs at her establishments and prohibited her local MPs Juliet Campbell and Michael Payne from entering.
The salon owner is confronting an annual business rates rise exceeding £10,000.
Ms Osborne told GB News: “There’s no other way to actually get Labour to listen to our sector. They won’t listen.”
She expressed particular frustration having met the Chancellor before the 2024 election.
“Rachel, to my face, actually promised me that she would do something, that she would back business,” she said.
“I voted Labour because I believed what she told me… Such a senior politician giving me her absolute assurances. What a mistake that was!”
She told the Mail on Sunday: “I am furious that the Government now seem to have their fingers in their ears.”
