Beauty & hair affected by Scottish Level 4 lockdown
Beauty, hair, spa and complementary therapy businesses in 11 Local Authority areas of Scotland must close from Friday 20th November under the country's Level 4 COVID-19 protection levels.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced today (17th November) that “there are grounds for continued and significant concern” in relation to the rise in COVID-19 cases in areas being placed into Level 4. From Friday 20th November at 6pm, this includes:
- City of Glasgow
- Renfrewshire
- East Renfrewshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- West Dunbartonshire
- North Lanarkshire
- South Lanarkshire
- East Ayrshire
- South Ayrshire
- Stirling
- West Lothian
Level 4 restrictions are in place for a limited period of three weeks until Friday 11th December, it has been announced.
Close contact businesses within these regions that must close include:
- hairdressing and barbers
- beauty and nail services (including make-up)
- hair removal
- tattoo, piercing and body modification
- fashion design, dress-fitting and tailoring
- indoor portrait photography
- massage therapies
- complementary and alternative medicine services requiring physical contact or close physical proximity between persons, but not osteopathy and chiropractic services
- spa and wellness services
- other services or procedures which require physical contact or close physical proximity between a provider and a customer and are not ancillary to medical, health, or social care services
Travel restrictions are to be set into law, preventing people from travelling between different level regions, e.g. someone living in a Level 4 Local Authority cannot travel into a Level 3 area. Additional Level 4 restrictions can be found on the Scottish Government website.
The First Minister also outlined financial support for businesses forced to close, in addition to the UK government's Job Retention Scheme (furlough), including £2,000 or £3,000 grants payable every four weeks (dependent upon a business' rateable value), a £30m discretionary fund for Local Authorities, and a £15m fund for newly self-employed people who may not qualify for other financial assistance. More details on financial assistance packages are due to be released.
Published: 17.11.2020 2.50pm
