Employment contract for salon staff

Salon staff are employed in a trade where the minimum wage is tested every month, tips are now regulated, deductions for uniforms and training are the commonest breach, and staff departures can take clients with them. The contract has to get the pay right including training time, comply with the tips law, authorise only the deductions the law allows, protect the client base with covenants a court will enforce, and deal with departures soon after training. I draft that contract for the salon for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days, as a template for the grade.

Who this is for

Hair and beauty salons, barbers and nail bars in England and Wales employing stylists, therapists, apprentices-turned-juniors, receptionists and managers, who want a contract that works for the trade.

What matters in a salon employee's contract

Pay, hours and the minimum wage including training time

The contract should state the hourly rate or salary at or above the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 rate for the employee's age for every hour worked, including training, team meetings, time between clients when the employee must remain on the premises, and time spent cleaning and setting up, with the hours and days stated and any overtime, because salon staff paid for client hours only are the minimum wage cases HMRC pursues; the Working Time Regulations 1998 govern rest breaks, holiday and the hours of staff under eighteen, and the contract should provide for rest breaks during long days on the floor.

Tips, service charges and the tips law

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires employers to pass on all tips, gratuities and service charges to workers without deductions (other than tax), to allocate them fairly under a written policy where tips are paid more than occasionally, to pay them by the end of the month after they are received, and to keep records the worker may request; the contract should refer to the salon's tips policy, say how card tips are allocated and paid, and make clear that tips are not part of the minimum wage calculation, because a salon that keeps a share of card tips is in breach of the Act and of the minimum wage rules.

Deductions for uniforms, products and training

Section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 prohibits deductions from wages without a contractual term or prior written consent, and the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 treats deductions for uniforms, tools and products the employer requires as reducing pay for minimum wage purposes, so a salon that deducts uniform costs from a worker on the minimum wage breaches the Act; the contract should authorise in writing only the deductions the law allows (overpayments, an agreed training cost repayment on a sliding scale limited to the external cost, an agreed loan), should not charge for uniforms or products below the minimum wage headroom, and should say what the salon provides.

Clients, columns and the covenants a salon can enforce

The contract should state that clients and their records belong to the salon under the UK GDPR, that the employee may not copy client details or contact clients for their own purposes, and should contain a non-solicitation of clients the employee served in the last part of their employment for a stated period after leaving, a non-solicitation of staff, and a non-compete limited to a radius and a period a court will accept for a stylist (a short period and a small radius, because a stylist's livelihood is cutting hair), with the covenants drafted separately and no wider than the salon's legitimate interest; a covenant that stops a stylist working anywhere nearby for a year is unenforceable, and the salon's protection is the non-solicitation and the client data clause.

Training, qualifications and departures after training

The contract should set out the training the salon provides, the qualifications and certificates the employee must hold for the services they perform (including for colour, chemical treatments and any treatment the local authority licenses), the salon's right to restrict services to qualified staff, and a training cost repayment clause for external courses the salon funds, on a sliding scale over a stated period, limited to the actual cost, consented to in writing, and not applying where the salon ends the employment other than for misconduct; the junior who qualifies and leaves is the salon's recurring loss, and the enforceable answer is a fair repayment clause and a non-solicitation rather than a penalty.

The particulars, notice and the rest of the contract

The contract supplies the written particulars section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires on day one, states probation and notice with section 86 as the floor, the disciplinary and grievance procedures, conduct standards including hygiene, dress and client care, patch testing and consent procedures the employee must follow, the salon's health and safety rules under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for products and equipment, sick pay under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, pension under the Pensions Act 2008, confidentiality, and the handbook; where the salon also rents chairs to self-employed stylists, the employed staff's contract should be kept distinct from the chair rental agreement, because the two arrangements are different in law.

What it costs

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Can we deduct the cost of uniforms from a junior's pay?

Not if it takes them below the minimum wage, and only with written consent in any event. The contract authorises only lawful deductions and says what the salon provides.

Who gets the card tips?

The staff, all of them, allocated fairly under a written policy and paid by the end of the following month, with no deduction other than tax. The contract refers to the policy; keeping a share is a breach of the tips law.

Can we stop a stylist who leaves from working at the salon down the road?

Only for a short period within a small radius, and even then a court may not enforce it. The non-solicitation of clients and the client data clause are the protections that hold, and the contract relies on them.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Settlement agreements for employers, £795
• Contractor agreement for a self-employed hairdresser

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.