Confusion and mixed views in the industry over PM's Monday address
Aesthetic clinics will not be permitted to reopen on 4 July as hoped, said the Prime Minister in his address on 23 June.
While hairdressers and barbers were named among those businesses that will be allowed to reopen on July 4 as part of a further easing of lockdown restrictions in the UK,
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Government intended “to allow other close contact services, such as nail bars, to reopen as soon as we can, when we are confident they can operate in a covid-secure way.”
Aesthetic clinics have not been mentioned as a specific business during the lockdown business closures, but it is safe to assume clinics fall under into the "beauty salon" category.
Johnson added, “As we begin to reopen the economy, it’s important that we do not increase the risk of transmission which is why ‘close proximity’ venues such as nightclubs, soft-play areas, indoor gyms, swimming pools, water parks, bowling alleys and spas will need to remain closed for now. The Government is continuing to work with these sectors to establish taskforces to help them to become Covid Secure and reopen as soon as possible.”
The address also included the announcement that social distancing measures will be reduced from 4 July. “Where it is possible to keep two metres apart, people should. But where it is not, we will advise people to keep a social distance of ‘one metre plus’”, said the Prime Minister.
The news has been met with a mixed response among clinic owners and practitioners, with many standing firm that they will open on 4 July as planned, while others are taking the view that it is not yet safe to do so, as per the Government message.
Aesthetic Medicine has contacted industy bodies BCAM, BACN and JCCP for comment and advice for members.
The Government has released the full list of businesses allowed to reopen on 4 July, provided they are covid secure, as:
- Hotels, hostels bed and breakfast accommodation, holiday apartments or homes, cottages or bungalows, campsites, caravan parks or boarding houses
- Places of Worship
- Libraries
- Community centres
- Restaurants, cafés and workplace canteens
- Bars
- Pubs
- Cinemas
- Bingo halls
- Theatres and concert halls [guidance dictates no live performances]
- Museums and galleries
- Hair salons and barbers
- Outdoor playgrounds
- Outdoor gyms
- Funfairs, theme parks and adventure parks and activities
- Amusement arcades
- Outdoor skating rinks
- Other indoor leisure centres or facilities, including indoor games, recreation and entertainment venues
- Social clubs
- Model villages
- Indoor attractions at aquariums, zoos, safari parks, farms, wildlife centres and any place where animals are exhibited to the public as an attraction
Meanwhile, the following businesses must remain closed by law:
- Nightclubs
- Casinos
- Bowling alleys and indoor skating rinks
- Indoor play areas including soft-play
- Spas
- Nail bars and beauty salons
- Massage, tattoo and piercing parlours
- Indoor fitness and dance studios, and indoor gyms and sports venues/facilities
- Swimming pools and water parks
- Exhibition or conference centres – where they are to be used for exhibitions or conferences, other than for those who work for that venue.
No definite date has yet been announced for when aesthetic and beauty businesses can reopen in England or Scotland. In Northern Ireland, it was announced last week that salons can reopen from 6 July and in Wales the proposed date is 13 July.
