Between the 10th and 16th of February 2025, the annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships took place.
A week-long celebration that brought together businesses and apprentices across the country to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy.
The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2025 was SKILLS FOR LIFE encouraging everyone to consider and celebrate how apprenticeships and skills help individuals develop rewarding careers, and employers to develop a workforce with future-ready skills.
Benefits of apprenticeships in the Hair and Beauty Industry
Apprenticeships are vital in providing clear long-term career paths to skilled employment. The hair and beauty sector is significant, with employers covering every corner of the country, providing jobs and opportunities for lasting careers. Apprentices provide an opportunity for employers to ‘grow their own’ staff and develop a crucial talent pipeline for their business. Some of the benefits of hiring an apprentice in your salon, barbershop and clinics include:
- Bringing fresh perspectives, a sense of enthusiasm, and new skill sets into the workforce providing a positive influence on your business. This can result in increased efficiency and profitability as apprentices can be among the most dedicated workers.
- You can instil your company’s ethos and culture from the start helping to shape a person’s skills and knowledge in line with specific business needs. This can help the apprentice to quickly integrate into your way of working and gain the skills and behaviours needed to develop and progress.
- It can be easier to train an apprentice who has not picked up 'bad habits' elsewhere.
- 'Home-grown' apprentices tend to be loyal and more likely to stay on with their employer. They can progress and be promoted saving you time and money on recruitment costs.
- Existing staff can gain new skills by mentoring and supporting apprentices.
“Job ready”
Apprenticeships have all helped to revolutionise vocational education in recent years, especially in the Hair and Beauty sector. With an array of programmes available it can be difficult for employers to understand what the right fit for their business is.
In the hair and beauty sector, programmes which contain regulated qualifications can be classified as either a “job ready” or preparation for work. “Job ready" qualifications are typically delivered "on the job" such as an apprenticeship. Once completed, an apprentice can demonstrate full job competence and work to commercial timings.
National Apprenticeship Week encourages individuals across the country to consider and celebrate how education can help people achieve the skills, knowledge and behaviours they need for a fulfilling career in the hair and beauty sector, as well as supporting employers to establish a future-ready workforce.
Challenges
Following the Autumn budget the sector is going to see significant challenges posed by increasing apprentice minimum wages alongside the need for more robust employer incentives.
Apprenticeships are crucial for developing skilled workers who can contribute to the business growth and sustainability, however salons may be forced to reduce the number of apprentices in response to the budget, as over half of business plan to, this will no doubt point to a shortage of trained staff in the future, leading to operational challenges and potentially higher recruitment costs.
Additionally, fewer apprenticeship opportunities can limit the sector’s talent pool, making it harder to find qualified employees. This can result in increased competition for skilled workers and potentially higher wages to attract and retain talent. Growth in self-employed practitioners within hair and beauty has also significantly impacted self-employed individuals who rarely employ apprentices.
There has been a significant decline in apprentices coming into the hair and beauty sector in recent years, which is partly attributed to schools broadly promoting academic routes to school leavers, a common myth for people thinking about a career in the sector is that if they are not clever or academic this is a good choice for them-This is nonsense – they’re skilled jobs that require expertise, creativity, and resilience, always continually staying on top of new techniques, terminologies and understanding the knowledge that underpins them.
Latest Government Reforms
Breaking Down Barriers to Entry
For years, the hair and beauty sector has faced challenges in recruiting and retaining talent, with functional skills requirements often acting as a stumbling block for many promising candidates. From February 11, 2025, businesses will be able to decide whether adult learners over 19 needs to complete level 2 English and maths qualifications to pass their apprenticeship.
These reforms could mark a turning point for the sector, with many talented individuals who excel in practical skills but struggle with formal qualifications will now have the opportunity to pursue their passion in the sector. This could lead to a more diverse and skilled workforce, better equipped to meet the evolving needs of clients
Accelerated Career Paths
The reduction in minimum apprenticeship duration from 12 to eight months will take effect from August 2025 and offers new possibilities for rapid workforce development. This change is particularly beneficial for individuals with significant prior learning who might have previously been ineligible for apprenticeship training.
Administrative Improvements
From August 2025, the sector will benefit from simplified payment systems, with the removal of data duplication requirements between the ILR and Apprenticeship Service submissions. This streamlining will address existing administrative challenges faced by training providers in the beauty sector.
Streamlined Assessment Process
The reforms extend beyond entry requirements to include significant changes to End Point Assessments (EPAs). From April 2025, the assessment process will become more streamlined.
Impact on Hair and Beauty Businesses
For salon, barbershop and clinic owners and managers, these reforms present several advantages:
- Faster qualification process for experienced adult learners
- Reduced training costs due to shorter apprenticeship duration
- Greater flexibility in workforce planning
- Improved ability to address skills shortages quickly
- Enhanced opportunities to attract career changers
- More proportionate assessment methods that eliminate duplication
- Potential for on-programme assessment where appropriate
- Greater flexibility for training providers to deliver certain assessment elements
Maintaining Quality Standards
While the reforms aim to streamline the apprenticeship process, the industry remains committed to maintaining high standards. The Department for Education emphasises that apprentices will still be assessed on core skills relevant to their occupation, ensuring that the quality of service in the sector remains uncompromised.
NHBF Campaigning for you
The NHBF have been actively campaigning and will continue to lobby the Government so that the sector has the best future for apprenticeships.
We are continuing to address challenges through our Survive and Thrive initiative, which has presented comprehensive proposals to the government for supporting apprenticeships in the hair and beauty sector. These proposals include specific recommendations for financial support mechanisms and incentives designed to make apprenticeships more sustainable for hair and beauty business owners.
The campaign emphasises the vital role of apprenticeships in securing the sector's future workforce while acknowledging the current economic pressures facing businesses. Some of the proposals to support the sector are:-
Introducing a transformative pre-apprenticeship program targeting 14-16-year-olds.
A Flexible Self-Employed Apprenticeship Scheme
Accelerated Level 2 Apprenticeship Program
Cross-Sector Apprenticeship Levy Redistribution
Employers should be offered more appealing apprenticeship incentives to make it financially sustainable for them to keep and recruit future apprentices. As the self-employed model grows, more tailored incentives for SMEs, micro-businesses, and even the self-employed model will need to be available.