Skin piercing treatments
Your business must be registered to provide any skin-piercing treatments, unless you are a registered medical practitioner or dentist.
This is to ensure that basic health and safety standards are maintained in any premises where these activities are carried out.
Skin piercing treatments include:
- acupuncture
- cosmetic piercing
- electrolysis
- semi-permanent skin colouring
- tattooing
The Councils have adopted byelaws to regulate the conditions of operators and their premises in relation to hygiene and infection control. It is compulsory to register both the premises and the operator under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982.
In Adur:
Byelaw for Acupuncture (Adur) (135KB)
Byelaw for Ear Piercing and Electrolysis (Adur) (131KB)
Byelaw for Tattooing (Adur) (132KB)
In Worthing:
How to apply for registration
Please note: We are currently updating our application process and it is not possible to pay online at this time.
Please complete the relevant application form below and either send it:
- via email to: publichealth.regulation@adur-worthing.gov.uk
- or send via post to: Public Health & Regulation, Administration, Portland House, 44 Richmond Road, Worthing, BN11 1HS.
On receipt of your application a member of our Administration Team will contact you to arrange payment. Alternatively you can enclose a cheque with your application.
Please complete the relevant application form, listed below. There is a one-off registration fee, which covers the cost of administration and inspection of your premises on a periodic basis. This is to ensure standards are maintained.
Fees:
To find out how much a licence will cost please see:
Application forms:
To apply for a licence please complete one of the forms below.
Once your application has been submitted and the fee has been paid we will contact you to arrange a time to inspect your premises. This is to check compliance with byelaw requirements, and that general health and safety standards are being met.
Acupuncture application forms:
Application form for personal registration to practice Acupuncture - to type into (34KB)
Application form for personal registration to practice Acupuncture - to hand write (35KB)
Application form for premises registration to practice Acupuncture - to type into (35KB)
Application form for premises registration to practice Acupuncture - to hand write (36KB)
Tattooing, semi-permanent skin colouring/cosmetic & ear piercing and electrolysis application form:
Other skin piercing licence application form - to type into (35KB)
Other skin piercing licence application form - to hand write (37KB)
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Need assistance with this service?
Get in touch:
Public Health & Regulation
Page last updated: 09 May 2023