65% of salons unprepared for GDPR

The National Hairdressers Federation (NHF) report that more than 65% of salons are unprepared for the introduction of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The NHF, which represents beauty as well as hair salons, conducted a survey among its members ahead of the changes to the way businesses must handle personal data, which come into effect on May 25. More than half (65%) admitted they didn’t know much about GDPR, although they were aware that changes were coming in.

The new laws apply to the handling and consent of all types of client and employee data including CCTV images, and will affect self-employed therapists as well as salon owners. The NHF published a free-to-access blog post on GDPR, which can be found on the “advice” section of its website.

Meanwhile, the NHF has welcomed other potential changes set to impact small businesses. In March, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his Spring Statement the launch of a consultation to get views on how to ease the VAT burden for SMEs once they reach the current threshold of £85,000, which has been frozen until 2020. NHF chief executive Hilary Hall commented: “The NHF has been campaigning hard for Government action on VAT... calling for tiered rates, which would introduce VAT in smaller steps, removing this ‘cliff edge’ once a salon reaches the threshold.”