Barbering & beauty
A chair, a set of clippers, and a trade nobody can take off you.
This term: funded NVQ Level 2
Free through Free Courses for Jobs if you're out of work or on a low wage. Many learned the trade inside — this makes it official.
£0 · fundedFirst earnings: junior barber
Assist and build speed. Basic DBS only — most shops never ask.
Basic check onlyYear 1–2: your own chair
Chair rental means you're self-employed inside someone else's shop — your clients, your money.
The ceiling: your own shop
Barbering is one of the most common successful businesses started by people with records. Nobody checks the owner.
Route to self-employmentNot sure where your record stands? Since October 2023 most records become spent far sooner than people assume — and spent records are invisible to a Basic check, like the ones on this route.
Check yours — it stays on your phone →Real places to start
Links open the real provider. Good:Folk never sits in the middle.
More like this
All routes →Not sure this is the one? Answer four questions and get matched.