In a world where the right thing to do can even be confusing to the person who made the rules, people throughout the UK are left bewildered and facing huge fines for getting things wrong.
Often under these high-pressure conditions the tendency is to stay cautious and go with the absolute hard line stance. The implications of this could also land you in trouble. Now is the most important time to be building lasting relationships with your customers and helping them to engage with your brand as efficiently as possible.
In researching this I have found a wealth of misinformation, trying to find a hardline right and wrong answer is an interpretive dance of double negatives and what ifs. So, I am writing this to save you the abhorrent task of deciphering the gov.uk websites and break down the advice they give… The results could boost your business.
Is it compulsory to use the NHS Track & Trace App for entry?
The short answer is NO.We all have a shared responsibility to ensure we are protecting those around us, so when going to a premises that requires us to stay on site we do need to share our details, as the business owner you also have a responsibility to ensure you collect those details.
How you collect those details is up to you. One of the methods should be the NHS Track & Trace App, but it is absolutely okay for your patrons to refuse to use that service, as long as they provide their details another way.
If customers refuse to provide any details, then you should refuse service. It is their responsibility to provide correct data and you have no responsibility to verify that data.
Who should be taking details for Track and Trace?
The government advice on this is as follows: This requirement applies to any establishment that provides an on-site service and to any events that take place on its premises. It does not apply where services are taken off site immediately, for example, a food or drink outlet which only provides takeaways. If a business offers a mixture of a sit-in and takeaway service, contact information only needs to be collected for customers who are dining in. Source: Visit Page I am aware that this can leave some grey areas so to be sure it applies to you here is a full list of effected sectors that it applies to:Hospitality:
- Restaurants, including restaurants and dining rooms in hotels or members’ clubs
- Cafes, including workplace canteens
- Bars, including bars in hotels or members’ clubs
- Public houses
Leisure and tourism:
- Amusement arcades
- Art fairs
- Betting and bingo halls
- Casinos
- Clubs providing team sporting activities
- Facilities for use by elite and professional sportspeople (including sports stadia)
- Heritage locations and attractions open to the public (including castles, stately homes and other historic houses)
- Hotels and other guest accommodation provided on a commercial basis, including in bed and breakfast accommodation, boats, campsites, caravans, chalets, guest houses, holiday parks, hostels, motels, pubs, sleeper trains and yurts
- Indoor sport and leisure centres
- Outdoor swimming pools and lidos
- Museums and galleries
- Music recording studios open for public hire or other public use
- Public libraries
Close contact services:
- Barbers
- Beauticians (including those providing cosmetic, aesthetic and wellness treatments)
- Dress fitters, tailors and fashion designers
- Hairdressers
- Nail bars and salons
- Skin and body piercing services
- Sports and massage therapists
- Tattooists
Local authority run services:
- Community centres
- Youth and community centres
- Village halls
What data should you collect?
The minimum required information for Track & Trace is as follows:- The name of the customer or visitor. If there is more than one person, then you can record the name of the ‘lead member’ of the group (of up to 6 people) and the number of people in that group
- A contact phone number for each customer or visitor, or for the lead member of a group of people. If a phone number is not available, you should ask for their email address instead, or if neither are available, then postal address
- Date of visit, arrival time and, where possible, departure time
- The name of the assigned staff member, if a customer or visitor will interact with only one member of staff (for example, a hairdresser). This should be recorded alongside the name of the customer or visitor.
Where you are already collecting this data through your booking/registration process there is no need to take the details again so long as you are able to provide the above.
