Big news people… After seven years of campaigning, the British Beauty Council has secured the first update to the industry’s Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes since 1948.And trust us, this is set to be a real game changer for hairdressing.
Here’s what you need to know:
Why use SIC codes?
The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes for professional services were set in 1948. They’re outdated and simply no longer described what our hair and beauty industry looks like. The problem has been, that SIC codes are used to describe what a business does and are used by governments and agencies globally measure and understand the different sectors of the economy. Frankly, if the SIC codes don’t reflect a true picture of what we’re doing, then that’s going to negatively impact the way we’re seen and supported (or not)!
A single SIC code classification of 9602 for the hair and beauty industry put us alongside ‘other personal services’. This was anything including laundry, dry-cleaning services and funeral services. It has resulted, says the British Beauty Council, in years of the hair and beauty sectors being overlooked politically, economically and socially, despite a significant, combined £30.4bn contribution to UK GDP. A contribution higher than that of the creative arts and entertainment sector.
Problem-solving
Over the past couple of years, there’s been increasing frustration in hairdressing UK that while the value of the beauty and hair industry has been calculated and presented to Government, the SIC code itself didn’t allow for telling the real story. While retail and some services were thriving, hairdressing services specifically have not. The problem being, the figures gathered according to SIC codes didn’t help Government understand the reality. The British Beauty Council sought many ways to demystify and explain through commissioned research of its own (expensive and time-consuming), but you still have to persuade Government to take these on board.
Mille Kendall OBE, CEO of the British Beauty Council, says: “This has been an issue close to my heart and a core focus of our work since the conception of the Council. The classifications were outdated and no longer represented the breadth of the multi-faceted industry. We have been told time and time again that it’s near impossible to change how our industry is listed as it was a global coding system; but we persevered and developed a strong argument for change with the support of our stakeholders. This is a fantastic win that will always be one of my proudest achievements.”
Hail the hero
Since its inception, the British Beauty Council has lobbied the Government for changes to the industry in many ways. The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes for professional services has been an integral part of its work since the formation of the council in 2018.
Back in 2019 the British Beauty Council’s ‘Defining Beauty’ report identified this issue. It asked for individual SIC codes to represent the hair, beauty, spa services sectors and recognise the diversity of professional services in the modern beauty landscape.
Today, the British Beauty Council announced that hair, beauty and spa activities will now be individually recognised with their own statistical coding under a new ‘Hairdressing, beauty treatment, day-spas and similar activities’ group.
Here’s the overview
As part of this work, the Council has also secured updates to the International and European industrial classification frameworks. This means that ISIC and NACE codes, following approval by the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) align with our new SIC codes. Importantly this means the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and the wider Government Statistical Services (GSS) who gather data on our sector will give the hair, beauty and the spa services sectors the visibility they deserve.
The British Beauty Council explains: It will ensure they are recognised for their unique contribution to UK GDP and enable governments and agencies to truly assess how they are performing. Also further enabling the British Beauty Council to support hairdressing and beauty businesses in navigating their unique economic challenges and advocate for the necessary support at government level.
By changing the Beauty Industry’s SIC Codes, the Council is ensuring:
- The collection of key economic data is legitimised and standardised for our industry across the world. Allowing policymakers to better understand the size, scale and contribution of these services globally to influence policy.
- Workers across the entire professional services sector, including those who are self-employed, can define the sector they work in on official documents.
- Services are reclassified to reflect the industry’s modernity, thus helping to legitimise and professionalise global beauty for future generations.
The detail that counts
The total beauty industry now accounts for approximately 1.1% of the UK’s total GDP. The range of services provided has grown exponentially, making it even more important that the SIC codes are updated and separately accounted for.
The British Beauty Council has also set out updates to the explanatory wording that accompanies the updated UK codes, with recommendations to ensure the wording is an accurate reflection of the modern professional services industry.
The new UK SIC codes are as follows:
962 Hairdressing, beauty treatment, day spas and similar activities
9621 Hairdressing and barbers activities
9622 Beauty care and other beauty treatment activities
9623 Day spa, sauna and steam bath activities
It is expected that the use of these codes within the UK’s own ONS and GSS data gathering will be implemented in phases over the next few years.
Thank you
There’s a lot to take in, but we hope you’re as impressed and hopeful as we are. It’s really important to have increasingly accurate and representative ways to quantify and present our hair and beauty industry. Bravo and let’s move forward with positivity.
