The NHBF welcomes the measures announced by the Chancellor yesterday, which will see greater support for hair and beauty businesses affected by reduced footfall due to the pandemic.

 

This comes after the NHBF shared its recent data with the Government, which showed 75% of those in the hair and beauty industry had seen a drop in business as a result of the pandemic and 41% couldn’t be sure they could survive until Christmas.

 

The latest updates to the Government’s COVID-19 support package include:

 

Job Support Scheme (JSS)

 

The Job Support Scheme will now see employers paying a maximum of 5% of employees’ wages for hours not worked and reduces the minimum hours requirement from 33% to 20%. This means staff working just one day a week will be eligible.

 

The JSS will come into effect on 1st November with the latest changes available to all businesses across the UK.

 

The Job Support Scheme for businesses legally required to close remains unchanged. Under these measures, employers are not required to contribute towards wages and only asked to cover national insurance and pension contributions where applicable.

 

Self-employed grant

 

The announcement increases the potential grant amount for self-employed workers from £1,875 (20% of profits) to a maximum of £3,750 (40%) for every three-month period. The three-month periods will cover November 2020 to January 2021 and February 2021 to April 2021.

 

Business Grants

 

The Government is providing additional funding to Local Authorities (LAs) in England to support businesses in high-alert level areas (tier 2) which are not legally closed but are severely impacted by the restrictions.

 

LAs will receive a funding amount that will be the equivalent of:

• For properties with a rateable value of £15,000 or under, grants of £934 per month
• For properties with a rateable value of between £15,000-£51,000, grants of £1,400 per month.
• For properties with a rateable value of £51,000, grants of £2,100 per month.

 

The funding Local Authorities receive will be based on the number of hospitality, hotel, B&B, and leisure businesses in their area. Authorities will also receive an additional 5% top up amount to cover other businesses that might be affected by the local restrictions, but which do not fit into these categories.

 

It will be up to LAs to determine which businesses are eligible for grant funding and what precise funding to allocate to each business.

Businesses in ‘very high’ (tier 3) alert level areas will qualify for greater support whether closed or open. In the latter case, support is being provided through business support packages provided to LAs as they move into the alert level.

 

Chief Executive of the National Hair & Beauty Federation, Richard Lambert said: “We commend the Government for their latest announcement, responding to the feedback from ourselves and others that operational businesses are seeing desperately low client numbers because of the current situation and are in urgent need of help. What we now need is to ensure that adequate support is getting to all business, regardless of their alert level or tier and that it is coming through quickly.

 

“We will be continuing to call on the government to address upcoming pinch points for businesses such as the end of the moratorium on eviction protection at the end of December and the 100% business rates relief which run until the end of March.”

 

For more information and FAQs, please visit www.nhbf.co.uk/coronavirus and follow the National Hair & Beauty Federation on social at @nhbfsocial.

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