Apply for skin piercing registration

If you carry out skin piercing activities, or run a business where they are carried out, you must be registered.

You need to apply for personal practitioner registration if you carry out:

cosmetic piercing or ear piercing
acupuncture or electrolysis
tattooing or semi-permanent skin colouring

If you own or manage a business where these activities are carried out you will need to apply for premises registration.

Skin piercing registration fees

Personal application and inspection - £170

Premises application and inspection - £170

Combined personal and premises application and inspection:

We offer a discount when you apply for your own personal registration and register your premises at the same time. The personal registration fee will be reduced to £58 as we will only need to carry out one inspection visit, making a total of £228 to pay.

Please note that all fees are subject to a percentage increase on a yearly basis.

How to apply

You need to apply for personal practitioner registration yourself, someone can’t register on your behalf. Please provide evidence of relevant training and qualifications when you apply.

To apply for premises registration you will need to provide:

a sketch plan of the premises (including the location of hand wash basins)
a copy of your COVID-19 risk assessment if you have carried one out

If you are applying for both premises and personal registration you will need to complete a separate application form for each registration.

We can't take payment online yet, so once you've submitted your application forms we will call you to take your payment by debit card over the phone.

Apply for skin piercing registration

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What we will do

Once we have received your completed application we will arrange to carry out the inspection within 28 days. Your application is not complete until you have provided the evidence we have asked for and full payment.

Variation

If you already hold a premises or personal registration and something changes, you will need to apply for a variation.