New analysis of Companies House data has revealed a worrying reality for the UK’s beauty sector, as more than a third of clinics and salons are closing before they reach the five-year mark.
Vip Italia, an award-winning supplier of aesthetic equipment to beauty clinics across Europe, analysed Companies House data to track how many hair and beauty businesses were incorporated between January 2021 and December 2025, and how many have since entered administration, liquidation, or been dissolved.
The findings highlight significant challenges across the industry. Of the 74,686 businesses launched during this period, 28,846 have ceased trading, meaning 38.6% have already closed their doors for good.
This comes as the British Beauty Council calls for targeted business rates relief for high street hair and beauty businesses, with campaigners and salon owners alike warning that rising costs will be passed on to customers through higher treatment prices.
In response to the findings, Anastasia Lesnikova, Chief Marketing Officer at Vip Italia, said: “For years, beauty businesses have quietly been holding the line, absorbing costs, cutting margins and hoping things would ease. But the cracks are impossible to ignore.
“If you talk to any clinic or salon owner, the story usually starts the same way. They didn’t get into this industry to get rich. They did it because they love the craft. After all, salons are places of connection, but right now, many are on the brink of shutting down.”
A salon owner in Hull has even urged the government to “stop treating salons like corporate giants”, as Lesnikova said that the pressures of running a business are largely in the numbers:
“One of the biggest pressures is business rates. Hair and beauty is a labour-intensive service, not a product-based retail model. But it’s taxed as if it were selling stock off shelves. Rate revaluations have increased bills, leaving owners scrambling to plug gaps they simply don’t have the margin to cover. While larger chains may be able to spread the cost, many independents simply can’t, and unlike pubs, they’ve largely been left out of targeted relief.”
And when costs increase, salons have to pass on their rising costs to customers, just to stay afloat. Lesnikova said: “Consumers feel the tension, too. Prices are rising, not because businesses want them to, but because there’s nowhere else for the cost to go. Many owners have held prices flat for years, even through Covid. But now, with energy bills, rent, wages and tax all rising, price increases are unavoidable.”
Business costs aren’t the only things affecting the industry, though. The number of apprentices has dropped significantly, and by 2030, a 93% decrease in direct salon employment is projected as interest dwindles and costs rise for apprentice stylists.
Combined, these issues are sending companies to “breaking point”, as Lesnikova describes: “This pressure is pushing the traditional business model to breaking point, with more salons and clinics being forced into self-employment structures to survive. On paper, this reduces costs. But the reality is this strips away stability for workers and creates an uneven playing field, where compliant businesses are undercut by informal, cash-only operators working from home or on the move. The current system rewards cutting corners and punishes those trying to do things properly.
“Despite the industry anchoring high streets, employing thousands of people, and driving local economies, policies rarely reflect the reality of how the sector works, or how fragile it has become.
“If closures are to slow down anytime soon, we need business rates that recognise labour-intensive services, VAT reform, targeted help to rebuild apprenticeships, and clearer regulations that protect legitimate businesses from being undercut.”
