NHF Publishes Guide to Chair Renting for Salons

Approximately half of all salons in the UK use chair renters, but the National Hairdressers’ Federation (NHF) is warning salon owners that the true cost of renting salon chairs may be higher than they think. The organisation has released a thorough guide into chair renting that explores the benefits and problems associated with the practice.

Chair renting represents an attractive option for many salons: you won’t have to pay freelancers NI, holiday pay or maternity pay, and you don’t need to worry about other aspects of employment law, saving your salon plenty of money.

However, depending on the payment structure you agree with your chair renter, you may not receive your percentage of takings reliably _ they are a freelancer, so it’s up to them when they work and go on holiday. Rental chair service contracts can allay many of the problems associated with this arrangement. However, tax legislation is very tough on disguised self-employment, so if you’re starting to impose uniform or working hours restrictions on chair renters, HMRC may class them as employees _ meaning you’ll have to pay up the NI contributions and sick pay that you avoided paying during their contract.

Given that you can’t legally treat freelancers as if they were employees, there is no way for you to ensure their work is up to your salon’s standards. You can’t force them to take training courses or cover for permanent staff if there’s a last-minute problem.

You have to be an NHF member to access the full guide.

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