The debate: should uk hairdressers be registered?

Should UK hairdressers be registered? Two industry professionals weigh in on whether registration should be compulsory for all hairdressers working in the UK.

Should UK hairdressers be registered? Yes, says Keith Conniford, CEO and Registrar, The Hair & Barber Council.

“We need to work together and support the changes we believe are vital for the survival and future growth of our industry.”  The original Hairdressing Council was set up in 1964 by an Act of Parliament. This means hairdressers and barbers can apply to become State Registered in the same way as a doctor or nurse. However, the Hair and Barber Council is still campaigning to make registration mandatory. In 2020, the hair, barber and beauty industries remain unregulated. During these unprecedented times, the cause for mandatory registration and regulation has become even more important. If our sector were regulated, the influence, pressure and impact we would have had on UK Government decisions during lockdown that affect us all moving forward, would have been significantly greater. In addition, as a regulated industry we would be able to control all and any unregulated practices happening in the sector. For the industry to receive the professional status and recognition it needs and deserves, we have to make ourselves more recognisably professional to the UK Government and to the public. With regulation, skill levels increase, public perception improves, better prices can be charged, higher wages can be paid and parents’ confidence in the industry for children leaving school will lead to future recruitment possibilities. To do this, we must all join together behind the current Act of Parliament, held by the Hair and Barber Council, to speak with one voice. We are fighting to have the voluntary Act of Parliament held in statute by the Hair and Barber Council amended to be mandatory whilst including beauty into the body of the Act. All of us within the hair, barber and beauty industries would then do the rest by self- regulating ourselves. Let’s all work together and force the UK Government to give our industry the status afforded to other industries whilst using our combined efforts to see us as their advisory link to the sector. Government will not take a fragmented industry seriously. We need to work together and support the changes we believe are vital for the survival and future growth of our industry.

No, says Phil Jackson, business coach, Build Your Salon

“If we want to raise standards we need to recognise that our qualifications are too generic.” I believe the industry has an opportunity to thrive post-lockdown and reach heights of respect we haven’t seen for generations. I truly believe that now more than ever, our customers see the value in what we do and have truly missed our presence in their lives. In my 20-plus years in the industry I have never been asked for my qualifications by a customer. The problem is registration won’t achieve that either. All we would be doing with a register is adding another burden of cost to the salon owner. If the goal is to eliminate shoddy set-ups where someone could watch a course online and call themselves a hairdresser, there are better ways to achieve it. For example, the UK Government could make it illegal to operate as a hairdresser without some kind of professional indemnity or public liability insurance. The insurer has the decision over what qualifications or experience to accept and I bet they would be unwilling to cover someone without properly accredited training. The best way for our industry to raise standards and perceptions is to recognise that our current qualifications are too generic. We currently have a qualification structure that aims to suit all elements of the hairdressing industry ranging from colleges to small salons, mobile hairdressers, session stylists and everything in between. The problem is that by trying to accommodate everyone we risk having a scheme that doesn’t suit anyone. I believe it isn’t the lack of registration that lets us down – it’s the lack of relevant qualifications available to the different roles available within the hairdressing industry.