The NHBF is pressing for the Scottish Government to provide immediate financial support for hair and beauty salons and barbershops to minimise the devastating financial impact that today’s announcement will have on the industry.
This afternoon the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon declared that the following areas will move into tier 4 of Scotland’s restrictions from 6pm on Friday 20 November:
The City of Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Stirling and West Lothian.
In these areas hair and beauty businesses must close. The measures will be in place for three weeks and end on Friday 11 December.
A temporary closure grant of £2,000-£3,000 (depending on rateable value) will be available to those businesses forced to shut. This will be paid every four weeks in arrears as long as restrictions last. A £30m discretionary fund was also announced for local authorities to allocate to businesses most adversely affected as well as £15m for newly self-employed people not eligible for previous support.
Richard Lambert, chief executive of the NHBF says, “We are speaking with the Scottish Government to ensure that this money reaches our sector urgently. This decision is going to have a huge impact as salons will lose out on this peak period in the run up to Christmas. After everything else this year there will be some businesses that sadly just won’t survive.
Personal care has consistently been shown to be one of the lowest risk sectors for transmission and so we urge the Scottish Government to allow salons to open at the earliest possible opportunity.
The hair and beauty sector has a significant role to play in maintaining the overall health and wellbeing of the public. With it highly likely that the UK will be living with Coronavirus for some time, it is absolutely essential that services such as ours remain operational to support the mental, physical and emotional wellbeing of the general public through this crisis.”
Full details for the financial support are available here.
