An award-winning hairdresser with salons in Perth and Dundee says she’ll stop employing apprentices when an increase in the minimum wage takes effect from April.
Charlie Taylor opened her first salon nearly four decades ago and currently has a workforce of 35 staff.
She has always brought on young talent who learn their trade in her salons.
But she said the “dramatic” 18% increase to the minimum wage for apprentices aged under 18, which is rising from £6.40 an hour to £7.55 an hour, will “completely change” her business.
The minimum wage for apprentices aged between 18 and 20 is increasing by 16% to £10 an hour.
She said: “Our business model always has been about training young people to become our future stylists. We invest, we train and we nurture.
“There is a cost to the business in terms of at least a three/four year training period before that young person can contribute to the business financially.
“The dramatic 18% increase to the minimum wage of apprentices will completely change our business model.
“Instead of that benefiting the young person, it will result in us no longer being able to employ them.
“It is short-sighted and damaging for our school leavers who want to get into hairdressing.”
‘Unfair playing field’ in VAT for hairdressing salons
Ms Taylor said that while she will no longer take on apprentices, she runs a training academy which will continue to train young people.
She is also unhappy about VAT rules which she says creates an “unfair playing field” between salon owners and self-employed hairdressers.
She explained: “Despite lobbying from industry bodies, salons like ours, which employ staff, pay 20% of every penny that we generate to the government in VAT.
“Self-employed hairdressers don’t.
“It is an unfair playing field that is killing our industry and has meant that between 60% and 70% of stylists are now no longer employed by salons.
“This impacts on standards as training decreases. We are now in the minority that employ and constantly train our team to maintain and improve quality and standards.”
‘Goalposts keep changing’ says Charlie Taylor
Ms Taylor started her hairdressing career early. She opened her first salon in Perth in 1987 and the second one in Dundee in 1999.
She has won more than 60 awards over the years including Scottish Hairdresser of the Year at the British Hairdressing Awards three times.
The business owner said worrying about what the Government was going to do next was the worst part of her job.
She adds: “We will have to take what comes when the budget comes into force.
“It will be down to us to remodel the strategy and planning. It is hard to have future plans when the goalposts keep changing.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “This government is delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation, boosting pay in people’s pockets by ensuring the National Minimum Wage protects the lowest paid in our society.
“Having a UK-wide minimum wage policy helps give bosses clarity, and reduces the burden on business as well as non-compliance due to mistakes.”
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