We have written to the Treasury on behalf of the UK nail industry
Nail salons have never had anyone making their case to government. On 9 September, that changed. Here is exactly what we asked for, in plain English, and the full document to read yourself.
The 30 second version
- TNBA has made a formal submission to HM Treasury ahead of the Autumn Budget on 28 October.
- Small salons should pay no business rates. That rule already exists, but the £12,000 line has not moved since 2017, so salons who paid nothing last year are now getting bills.
- We asked for that line to be raised, and then reviewed every time property values are revalued.
- Pubs got 20% off. Salons got nothing. We asked for the same rules to apply to everyone on the high street.
- We asked for the discount salons already get to be protected from being quietly eaten away.
- Nothing changes today. The Budget is 28 October. We will publish whatever answer we get.
- One thing worth doing this week: check your rateable value at gov.uk. If it is under £12,000 you should be paying no business rates at all, and some salons never claim it.
What we sent, and why
Every year before the Budget, HM Treasury opens a formal channel for organisations to put proposals to the Chancellor. Officials read every submission and pass them to the relevant policy teams. It is how industries get heard.
Almost no nail business has ever used it, because there has never been an organisation whose job it was.
On 9 September, TNBA submitted an eight page representation on business rates. It is written for Treasury officials, so parts of it are technical. Below is what it actually says.
What we asked for
1. Small salons should pay no business rates. That rule already exists. It has stopped working.
If your salon’s rateable value is under £12,000, you pay no business rates at all. That is the rule, and it is meant to protect the smallest businesses.
The problem is the number. £12,000 was set in April 2017 and has never moved since. Meanwhile the government revalued every commercial property in the country in April this year, and values went up.
So a salon that paid nothing last year can be getting a bill this year, without a single thing about the business having changed. No minister announced a tax rise. The line simply stood still while everything moved past it.
We asked the Treasury to raise it to around £14,200, using the government’s own published figures for how much values have gone up since 2017.
2. Then check that line every time property values are revalued.
Moving the number once fixes this year and nothing else. Properties are revalued every few years, and each time, the same erosion happens again.
We asked for the threshold to be reviewed and adjusted automatically at every revaluation, so that salon owners are not back here having this argument in 2029.
This one costs the Treasury very little and can be done without new legislation.
3. The same rules for everyone on the high street. Pubs got 20% off. Salons got nothing.
From April 2027, pubs, social clubs and live music venues get an extra 20% off their business rates. The reason the government gave is that they are “the businesses that people want to see in their communities.”
Salons, barbers and beauty businesses are 36% of the leisure businesses on Britain’s high streets. 86% are led by women. 45% are in the most deprived parts of the country. Clients come back every two or three weeks and use the shops either side while they are there.
We are not asking for pubs to lose anything. We asked the Treasury to publish the rules it used to decide, apply them to everyone equally, and include salons where they meet them.
We also costed it, because asking without a number is easy to ignore: around £10m to £15m a year across all hair and beauty, against roughly £100m a year for the pubs package.
4. Protect the high street discount from being eaten away.
Salons do already pay a lower rate per pound than most businesses. That discount is permanent, and we said so in the submission. It is a good thing and we support it.
But its value can shrink quietly. The discount is fixed in pence while everything else moves, and the cut-off points that decide who gets it are fixed in pounds. Nobody has to announce anything for it to be worth less each year.
We asked the Treasury to protect its real value at every revaluation, and to publish each year what it costs and what it raises, so the industry can see for itself.
What happens next
The Budget is on 28 October 2026. We will not know whether any of this has landed until then.
We will publish the outcome either way, including if the answer is no. Every submission TNBA makes, and every reply we receive, goes on our Policy and representation page in full.
What you can do this week
Check your rateable value. Go to gov.uk and search “find my business rates valuation”. If your salon is under £12,000, you should be paying no business rates. Some salons simply never claim it.
Check your bill after the revaluation. Mistakes happen and challenges are free.
Take the Cost Survey. The survey is building the first real picture of what it costs to run a nail salon in the UK. Government listens to evidence, and right now nobody has this data. Ten minutes, and you get the results whether or not you ever join.
Read the full submission (PDF, 8 pages)The complete document, exactly as HM Treasury received it.Nobody has ever made this argument for nail salons before. It is not a favour we are asking for. Salons pay their taxes, employ locally and fill the units nobody else fills. We are asking for a system that treats them the way it already claims to.Pawel Urbanski, CEO and Founder, TNBA
This article is general information for salon owners, not financial advice. Check your own position at gov.uk or with your accountant. TNBA Limited, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, England and Wales no. 17120618.
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Every salon and nail professional in TNBA is counted when we write to government. The more of the industry we speak for, the harder we are to ignore.