11 August 2020

Northern Ireland: face coverings

Members of the public in Northern Ireland must wear face coverings in shops and shopping centres. This rule came into force on 10 August 2020 and includes ‘any indoor place where goods or services are available to buy or rent’.

If your salon or barbershop operates an appointment-only system to ensure social distancing you are exempt from requiring clients to wear a face covering. 

However, if you allow, for example, walk-in appointments, then the client must wear a face covering.

If your business is exempt from requiring face coverings, you may still request clients to wear a face covering if you wish.

Our current advice from the Northern Ireland Executive is that it would be reasonable for clients to remove face coverings if necessary to carry out treatments.

The guidance lists exemptions to the requirement to wear face coverings. See our blog post for more information.

Apprenticeship incentive funding: more details

New incentive payments to encourage salon and barbershop owners in England to take on apprentices can be spent on anything to support your business costs, the government has announced. This may include, for example, uniforms, your apprentice’s travel, or their salary. You won’t need to pay it back. Find out more.

Details of the new scheme include:

  • An incentive payment will be made to employers who hire an apprentice between 1 August 2020 and 31 January 2021.
  • The apprentice must be a new employee to the business, have a contract of employment start date between 1 August 2020 and 31 January 2021 (inclusive) and must not have been employed by the employer within the six months prior to the contract start date.
  • Employers can make claims through the apprenticeship service from 1 September 2020.
  • For apprentices aged 16-24 the payment will be £2,000, and for apprentices aged 25 or over the payment will be £1,500.
  • The payment will be made directly to employers in two equal instalments at day 90 and day 365.
  • There will be no limit on the number of incentive payments that an employer can claim for eligible apprentices.

This money is in addition to the existing £1,000 payment the government already provides for new 16-18-year-old apprentices and those aged under 25 with an education, health and care Plan.

Hiring experienced and work-ready apprentices

The government is encouraging employers in England to take on work-ready apprentices who have been made redundant during the coronavirus crisis. Find more information on the government website.

See all updates

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