Staff handbook for a salon

A salon's handbook has to cover the things that go wrong in salons: a client with a reaction to a product that was not patch tested, a stylist who leaves with the client list, a dispute about card tips, a deduction for a uniform that took a junior below the minimum wage, and a self-employed stylist renting a chair who thinks the handbook applies to them. The handbook has to put the trade's procedures alongside the core policies, and keep the employed staff's rules separate from the chair renters' agreements. I draft that handbook for the salon for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Hair, beauty, nail and barber salons in England and Wales employing stylists, therapists, juniors, apprentices and reception staff, including salons that also rent chairs.

What matters in a salon handbook

Client care, patch testing and consent procedures

The handbook should set the consultation, patch testing and consent procedures for colour, chemical treatments, lash and brow products and any treatment the manufacturers or the salon's insurers require testing for, the recording of tests and consents, the handling of reactions and complaints, the age limits for treatments, and the hygiene and infection control procedures the local authority licenses for certain treatments; the salon's insurance depends on the procedures being followed, and the handbook is where staff are told what they are.

Client data, bookings and what staff may keep

The handbook should state that the client list, the booking system and client records are the salon's under the UK GDPR with the salon as controller, that staff may not copy client details, contact clients for their own purposes or move clients to personal booking apps, how client photographs are taken and used with consent, and what a stylist may keep on leaving (nothing from the salon's records, with their own social media following addressed in the contract); the data protection policy for staff and the staff privacy notice sit alongside.

Tips and the written policy

The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 requires a written tips policy where tips are received more than occasionally, with card tips passed on in full by the end of the following month, allocated fairly and recorded, and the handbook should contain the policy, say how card tips are allocated to the stylist who served the client and whether assistants share, and state that tips do not count towards the minimum wage; cash tips the client gives directly to a stylist are the stylist's, and the policy should say so.

Products, uniforms and the deductions the minimum wage allows

The handbook should state what the salon provides (products, tools, uniforms where required), what staff provide, the rules on using salon products for personal use, and the deductions policy: deductions for uniforms, products or breakages only with the written consent section 13 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires and never below the minimum wage, because deductions for items the employer requires reduce pay under the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015; the junior on the minimum wage who is charged for a uniform is the HMRC case the policy prevents.

Employed staff and chair renters under one roof

Where the salon rents chairs to self-employed stylists, the handbook should apply to employed staff only, with the chair rental agreements governing the renters, and should explain to employed staff how the two groups work together (bookings, products, reception, the rota) without treating the renters as staff, because a handbook that imposes the salon's rules on chair renters is evidence that they are employees whatever their agreement says and their status is checked with HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool rather than assumed; the salon's health and safety rules under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 apply to everyone on the premises and can be stated separately.

Training, qualifications and the core policies

The handbook should set the training and qualification requirements for each service, the training the salon provides and the repayment policy for external courses on a sliding scale with written consent, the core policies (disciplinary and grievance under the Acas Code, equal opportunities and the duty to prevent sexual harassment under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 including by clients, sickness absence, holiday with the notice regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 requires, flexible working under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996, IT and social media with the salon's accounts in its name, dress and appearance within the Equality Act 2010), non-contractual and acknowledged on issue.

What it costs

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

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

Does our handbook apply to the stylists who rent chairs?

It should not. Chair renters are governed by their rental agreements, and applying staff rules to them undermines their self-employed status. The handbook applies to employed staff, with the salon's safety rules stated separately for everyone.

Who gets the card tips?

The stylist who served the client, allocated fairly under the written policy the tips Act requires, passed on in full by the end of the following month. Cash tips given directly are the stylist's.

Can a stylist take photos of clients for their own Instagram?

Only with the client's consent and under the salon's policy, which the handbook sets. Client photographs are personal data and the salon's social media accounts belong to the salon.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £995, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Employment contract for salon staff
• 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.