The £14 hour costs the salon £18.06, and a quiet week on commission can drop a stylist below the legal floor
Salon Staff Cost and Commission Calculator
Holiday, employer National Insurance and pension add around 29 per cent to every hourly rate before a single client sits down. Put your rates, hours and commission split in and see the real cost of the week, what the stylist takes home, and whether the minimum wage check still passes.
Salon Staff Cost and Commission Calculator
What an employed stylist really costs on the current floors, and what the commission models pay, side by side.
The floors and the load
The wage floors from 1 April 2026: £12.71 at 21 plus, £10.85 at 18 to 20, £8.00 under 18 and for apprentices. Commission-only pay must still average the floor across the hours worked; a quiet week can put a commission stylist below it and the top-up is the law, not a courtesy.
The £14 hour costs £18.06 once holiday, employer NIC and pension land: a 29 per cent load that belongs in every price and every commission negotiation.
The demo comparison: £560 basic against £585 at 45 per cent commission on £1,560 of takings. The commission model pays more in good weeks, less in quiet ones, and always needs the minimum-wage check underneath it.
Take the workbook
The loaded cost and every commission level in Excel, with the minimum-wage floor checked.
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