Many members have been getting in contact this week asking if we are able to confirm when government will be releasing their official return to work guidelines, if the 4th July is the definite date of return to work and also how the coming out of lockdown rules differ across the devolved nations.
Government Guidelines and Considerations
This government’s Safer Workplace guidance document has been prepared by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with input from firms, unions, industry bodies (ourselves included) and the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Public health is devolved in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; this guidance should be considered alongside local public health and safety requirements and legislation in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
As of yet the final document has not been made available by government and there is still no confirmed date as to when they will be released. This is obviously very disappointing and we are pushing government to make them available as soon a possible, as we are well aware you need to make sure you are as prepared and compliant with those guidelines. We will of course advise members the minute we have more details.
Why are lockdown rules different in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
Decisions on easing lockdown in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are the responsibility of each national government. Currently the information available regarding when lockdown will end differs across the countries.
England
As things stand currently Beauty and Hair are scheduled to go back to work at the earliest on the 4th July. This is subject to the R rate remaining below 1. Some non essential retail is due to go back on Monday the 15th June and as advised in our last update Click and Collect can be used for beauty & hair businesses to sell products as long as customers order in advance and do not enter the premises.
In Business Secretary Alok Sharma's statement on the 9th June he reiterated the following:
“As soon as we can, we will publish further safer working guidance for restaurants, pubs and bars, as well as hairdressers, barbers, nail bars and related services. These documents will provide practical steps to allow those businesses to re-open in a manner that is as safe as possible for workers and their customers.
I know there has been a lot of speculation about when we might be able to reopen these parts of the economy and I completely understand why we are all so keen to get them back up and running – I absolutely share your enthusiasm. But we continue to follow the roadmap, which sets out our ambition to reopen these sectors from 4th July at the earliest.”
For his full speech please click here
Scotland
On 28th May it was confirmed that Scotland had seen sufficient progress in suppressing the virus to enable them to move from the Lockdown to Phase 1. Scotland has since remained on Phase 1. It was also confirmed that Indoor non-essential work (including all hair and beauty both mobile and salon) is confirmed to reopen only when Phase 3 is reached. At this stage the Scottish government have not set any exact timescales for when that will be. For full details on Scotland's current guidance click here
Northern Ireland
NI pathway to recovery was published on the 12th May and broke down their plan into 6 sectors and 5 steps for each sector. The dates each step is reached may vary from sector to sector. Beauty & Hairdressers are due to return in step 4 under the Retail Sector, but currently no exact timelines have been provided on when this may be. For full details on Northern Ireland 's current guidance click here.
Wales
The Welsh government have currently not released any dates for our industry returning to work yet. For full details of Wales' current guidance click here
Channel Isles
• Jersey will enter Level 2 on Friday the 12th June click here for details of all levels and details
• Guernsey levels and details for exit from lockdown can be seen here
Isle of Man latest updates can be viewed here
Republic of Ireland
We do not provide membership or insurance to the Republic of Ireland so recommend that anyone requiring information for there contact HABIC or download their own guidelines here or to access the the Republic of Ireland's own current government guidelines click here