Salon services releases 4th beautiful britain report

Salon Services' fourth Beautiful Britain report, analysing the state of the UK hair and beauty industry, has just been released. More than 2,500 hair and beauty professionals took part in the research, including salon workers, managers and mobile stylists. Here HJ shares some exclusive highlights.

• Businesses across the country saw a dip in staff numbers as salons remained cautious. The average number of people employed in UK salons is 2.2 full-time employees and 1.9 part-time. This is down very slightly from 2.5 and 2.3 respectively in 2013. Despite this, almost three quarters (73%) of salons maintained full-time headcount and over two thirds maintained part time numbers.
• There's room for growth in the industry, as over a third of salon owners (37%) are optimistic about increasing headcount this year. In Scotland the trend has already begun; this region boasts the biggest increase in headcount in 2014 - up from 2 to 2.8 full-time staff and from 1.4 to 2.4 part-time.
• Optimism is greatest in the South East, where over half (53%) of salons plan to increase staff this year, closely followed by Scotland (48%) and London (45%). On the flip side, almost a third (29%) of businesses in Wales (29%) plan to decrease team sizes.
• UK salons are also among the UK's biggest supporters of the Government's apprenticeship scheme. As many as one in five UK salons employ one or more apprentice, and - incredibly - half (52%) of al salons are set to hire one this year.
• 93% of salon owners/managers believe that qualifications are essential for their staff. Most stylists (89%) are qualified and have qualified and have completed training courses (95%).
• Whatever their route into the profession, most of the professionals that Salon Services surveyed said that they were happy with their chosen role. An amazing three quarters (76%) claimed that hair and beauty is their career for life.