British Beauty Council unveils 2025 Value of Beauty Report

The UK Beauty and Personal Care sector made a total GDP contribution to UK economy of £30.4bn in 2024, according to the latest Value of Beauty report. A 9 per cent increase year on year, this makes up 1.1 per cent of the country’s entire GDP.

Released by the British Beauty Council (BBC), the report reveals the beauty sector’s GDP contribution outpaces the UK economy by four times.

The annual Value of Beauty report is compiled by Oxford Economics and commissioned by the BBC. It shows the economic impact of the personal care industry, which is made up of retailers, professional services, brands and manufacturers.

Last year also saw an 8 per cent increase in consumer spending across the personal care industry, growing to £32.4bn –a significant increase even after adjusting for inflation.

“The UK beauty and personal care sector is supporting a growing share of the country’s GDP, jobs and tax revenue,” says Vasilis Douzenis, associate director of Oxford Economics’ Economic Impact department.

“Beauty now directly contributes a larger share of GDP than the sports, amusement and recreation sector. It also employs more people than the publishing and broadcasting sector.”

The beauty sector workforce

Beauty directly employed 496,000 workers in 2024, an 11 per cent increase year on year. This figure is higher than the pre-pandemic peak of 478,000 in 2019.

In 2024 the total footprint of the industry extended to almost 700,000 jobs. However, job growth is set to slow in 2025. It is predicted there will be a 2 per cent downturn in overall jobs to 681,000.

Future projections

Looking forward, it’s predicted the personal care industry will support a total GDP contribution of £31.5bn in 2025, up 3 per cent. This more conservative growth is driven by an expected slowdown in household spending.

In 2024 the personal care industry supported a total of £8.6bn in tax revenue to the UK Treasury, which is estimated to rise to £9.4bn in 2025.

This is largely driven by the rise in minimum wage and national insurance contributions.

Decline in beauty industry exports

Over the course of 2024, exports by UK beauty and personal care manufacturers totalled £4.3bn – and accounted for 1.3 per cent of total UK goods exports.

This is a marked decline – exports have fallen by 5.9 per cent annually since the end of 2020.

“That said, there is a clear appetite from brands to focus on their home market, building our reputation in the UK,” adds Kendall

What is the Value of Beauty Report?

The BBC is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to solving beauty’s shared current – and future – challenges.

In 2019, the British Beauty Council and Oxford Economics launched the first study into the value the personal care industry creates for the UK economy.

Oxford Economics set out to value the British beauty industry in terms of its contribution to GDP, as well as the value of consumer spending and tax contributions.

The report found that in 2018 the British beauty industry made a total contribution to UK GDP worth £28.4 billion.

Download the full report here.