The UK’s biggest hair and beauty organisations have written an open letter to the Prime Minister demanding assurances that the entire industry will be reopened in all of the tier structures following England’s current national lockdown.
This letter comes after a shambolic reopening of the sector in the summer, in which hair and beauty were split and certain treatments and services were prohibited for prolonged period after the main lockdown had ended, without any medical evidence to support the decision.
We’ve uploaded the letter below, a version of which has also been sent to: The Rt. Hon Michael Gove MP at the Cabinet Office; the Rt. Hon Alok Sharma MP Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS); and Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Reopening-the-hair-and-beauty-sector-joint-letter-to-the-PM-12-Nov… and here’s a selection of quotes from some of the leading figures involved.
“The simple fact is that the hair and beauty industry contributes only up to 0.05% to the R Rate, as stated by their very own SAGE advisors. With the amount of money salons and barbers have spent to prove themselves to be ‘COVID secure’ and the hoops they have jumped through within the governments guidance in order to welcome back clients, these businesses must be given the chance to operate and recover to be the economically viable businesses they were before the pandemic.”
Richard Lambert, Chief Executive, National Hair & Beauty Federation
“The government must understand and allow ‘personal care’ including saunas and steam rooms to reopen fully on December 3rd 2020. Prior to the pandemic, the hair & beauty sector contributed £28.4 billion to Britain’s GDP and £27.2 billion in consumer spending (2018).
“Spas have a strong evidence-based case for reopening, demonstrating consistently low transmission rates, with confirmation of this by department officials.” Helena Grzesk, General Manager at the UK Spa Association. “It is imperative that we protect the British hair and beauty industry from further local closures and engage policy leaders to ensure our workforce are not disproportionately affected by the measures put in place during national and regional restrictions.”
Millie Kendall MBE, Chief Executive Officer of British Beauty Council
“We urge government to heed the statistics and facts provided. Those together with our collective ongoing commitment to work with and support the department of business, energy and industrial strategy should provide the assurance needed to allow the reopening of our rigorously hygienic sector on the 3rd December.”
Lesley Blair, Chair of BABTAC