This week I held a roundtable for hair and beauty salons across my constituency.

Having been approached by a couple of local salon owners, I wanted to hear directly from employers how recent Government changes were impacting their businesses.

According to a recent report by the National Hair and Beauty Federation, the sector are facing a perfect storm, with the minimum wage rises, increased Employers' National Insurance Contributions and reductions to business rates relief bringing many businesses to crisis point.

The trade body reports that the economic headwinds blowing from Rachel Reeves’ Treasury, alongside other pressures like the rising energy price cap, threaten the very future of the hair and beauty industry and we are already seeing businesses on our high streets shutting up shop.

Others have no choice but to move all their staff into self-employment, a model which not only offers much fewer workplace protections but also, ironically, leaves the Treasury worse off too.

But this sector is not alone.  This pain is being felt by a whole range of businesses who employ a lot of staff on relatively lower wages.  Sectors like retail and hospitality, health centres and care homes, early years and nurseries.  Incidentally the sectors which create so many of the jobs and skills opportunities, and offer the services local people depend upon.  

They are also the businesses which keep our high streets viable.  Without the hair and beauty salons, restaurants, cafes and independent traders our high streets will be nothing but the endless vape shops and cut-price barber shops which, as the BBC recently reported, can sometimes be merely fronts for organised crime.

But one of the most worrying things that I heard at my roundtable was that, with the industry struggling to survive, they no longer have the resources available to train the next generation.

The hair and beauty sector has estimated that, at the current rate of decline, the industry will be taking on no apprentices at all by 2027.

One chain of salons told me that they were already at that stage. They said that they had paused their apprenticeship programme since the pandemic, with the intention of restarting this year.  Now, however, directly due to Labour’s punitive Budget, they simply cannot afford it.

Apprenticeships are one of the best entry points into the job market for young people. They teach skills that last a lifetime and almost guarantee future employment.

If there really won’t be a single hair and beauty apprentice by 2027, we’re going to see the number of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training continue to rise.

I am really worried for our young people, and I am worried for all these struggling sectors. I plan to host more roundtables, and I will continue to voice my concerns in Parliament.