‘Queen of skincare’ Caroline Hirons calls for business rates cut for beauty salons

The ‘Queen of skincare’ Caroline Hirons has joined calls on Andy Burnham to save beauty salons from an avalanche of costs.

Hirons, who is one of the biggest names in British beauty and owns brand Skin Rocks, told The Mail that the Government must stop ‘continuing to overlook the businesses and women responsible for creating it.’

The beauty guru, who is on the board of the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology, said her industry is ‘not a frivolous extra, and running a salon is not a hobby.’

She wants salons to receive similar support to a 20 per cent rates cut handed to pubs and live music venues.

Hirons said: ‘These are serious businesses with rent, rates, energy bills, insurance, stock, equipment, training and wages to pay before a single customer walks through the door.’  

But she said that salon owners ‘cannot keep absorbing rising costs indefinitely’, with pressure on firms to hike prices for customers, cut jobs for young people at the start of their working lives, and ‘in the worst cases’ to even close down completely. 

She added: ‘The Government talks a great deal about supporting female entrepreneurs, creating skilled jobs and bringing life back to our high streets. 

‘Yet when a predominantly female, £28.3bn industry asks to be included in the same conversation as pubs and live music venues, it is still treated like an optional extra. That contradiction needs calling out.’

While she believes hospitality ‘absolutely deserves support’, salons and beauty businesses help support jobs ‘in every town across the country’ and so should be treated with the same regard, she said. 

‘The Government cannot applaud beauty’s contribution to the economy while continuing to overlook the businesses and women responsible for creating it.’

Millie Kendall, the chief executive of the British Beauty Council, whose ambassadors include Charlotte Tilbury, Kate Moss and Trinny Woodall, wrote in The Mail earlier this month that ignoring beauty businesses would be a ‘mistake’.

The Prime Minister said last month that he would knock 20 per cent off rates for hospitality firms next year, saving pubs £1,100 on average.

He said the £100million policy would be funded by slashing reliefs for gambling arcades and vape shops that ‘don’t add much to community life’.

But this has angered other businesses on the High Street, which are also grappling with tough cost increases including wages, National Insurance contributions and energy bills.

The beauty and personal care sector contributed £28.3billion to the UK economy in 2025, according to the British Beauty Council’s latest Value of Beauty report.