The Datum Report

Occupation 6222 · Caring, leisure and other service occupations

Beauticians and related occupations

Half of full-time beauticians and related occupations in the UK earn more than £24,124 a year, and half earn less.

Beauticians and related workers give facial and body beauty treatments, apply cosmetics and dress wigs.

How people enter it

There are no minimum academic requirements for entry, although some colleges require candidates to possess GCSEs/S grades. NVQs/SVQs in Beauty Therapy are available at levels 1, 2 and 3. Professional qualifications are also available.

What the work involves

• discusses clients requirements, analyses and advises client on appropriate skin care, and applies treatments to the face or body
• massages scalp, face and other parts of the body and carries out spray tanning
• uses waxing, threading, sugaring and other epilation techniques to remove any unwanted body hair
• cleans, shapes and polishes finger and toe nails, applies nail extensions
• performs specialist treatments for conditions such as acne, applies skin rejuvenation therapies
• recognises problems and refers clients to medical practitioners if appropriate
• advises clients on diet and exercise to assist in weight loss and slimming
• maintains client records, sells and advises on cosmetic products and services, and ensures appropriate health and safety issues are addressed.
• applies make-up to hide blemishes or enhance facial features and advises clients on skin care and make-up techniques

Also called

Beautician · Beauty therapist · Nail technician · Spa therapist · Tattoo artist

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for beauticians and related occupations, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 7 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Hairdressers and barbers