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

Byelaws

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:

In Worthing:

Byelaw for Acupuncture, Tattooing etc (Worthing) (151KB)

How to apply for registration

When making your enquiry to us via our online portal:

After clicking the link you will need to register in order to submit your enquiry.
Once registered please click on 'Licensing' - then 'Apply for a Licence'.

Apply for a Licence

Fees:

To find out how much a licence will cost please see:

Adur & Worthing Councils - Fees and Charges booklet

Making a complaint about a premises

If you would like to make a complaint or have a query regarding a premises where skin piercing takes place, this can be done via our online portal:

After clicking the link you will need to register in order to make a complaint.
Once in the portal, select 'Requests for Service or Complaints' and then select 'Health and Safety at Work complaint/enquiry'.

Make a complaint or enquiry