Acupuncture, Tattooing, Cosmetic Piercing and Electrolysis Registration

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Introduction

You need to register with us if you’re going to carry out treatments including acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing or electrolysis.

If you don’t, you may receive a fine.

If you provide tattooing or semi-permanent skin colouring, you can join the tattoo hygiene rating scheme.

Fees

The amount you'll need to pay will depend on where you're providing acupuncture, tattooing, semi-permanent skin-colouring, cosmetic piercing or electrolysis.

At a fixed location

To provide treatments at a fixed location, you'll need to pay:

£354 for yourself, including one treatment
£64 for each additional treatment

A fixed location could be a tattoo studio, for example.

The fee of £354 includes one treatment type, for example tattooing.

Events

To provide treatments at an event, you'll need to pay:

£222 for yourself
£35 for each additional artist that will provide treatments at the event

What you need to do

You must:

sterilise any equipment you use during treatments, including any containers for dyes used in tattooing
wear disposable gloves and protective clothing and change them between customers
use disposable paper sheet to cover treatment surfaces and replace it after each customer
disinfect treatment surfaces after each customer
display no smoking, no drinking and no eating signs where they can be clearly seen by customers
provide clean hot and cold running water, soap or detergent and hand washing facilities

You must display a copy of your registration certificate and the byelaws (PDF 277kb) at your premises where customers can see it. If you don’t you may receive a fine.

You can download the tattooing and piercing toolkit (PDF 3.14MB) and the Kent code of practice for hygienic skin piercing (PDF 5MB).