Licences and permits

The permissions a business needs before it can trade, each one tied to the law that creates it and to the body that issues it. We point at GOV.UK for fees and forms, and never copy them.

13 of 426 licences for Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments

Choose from all 48 activities

C

Consent for leaflet distribution (Northern Ireland)

You must have permission from your local council to distribute leaflets within designated litter control areas

Your council · Northern Ireland

Any trade

D

Discharging effluent (Scotland)

Get permission to send liquid waste out from factories or places where sewage is dealt with and find how to contact Scottish water suppliers …

Scottish Government · Scotland

Any trade

Discharging effluent or waste water (England)

You may need an environmental permit to discharge liquid effluent or waste water to surface water or the ground.

Environment Agency · England

Any trade

H

Hairdresser registration

Your council

England · Northern Ireland

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments

L

Laser or intense pulsed light treatment licence (Northern Ireland)

You need a licence to use laser or intense pulsed light treatment

Northern Ireland Executive · Northern Ireland

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments · Healthcare · Tattooing, piercing and electrolysis

Laser or intense pulsed light treatment registration

Different issuer in each nation

England · Wales

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments · Healthcare · Tattooing, piercing and electrolysis

M

Massage and special treatment premises licensing

Contact your council if you run an establishment for massage or other special treatments and need a premises licence

Your council · England and Wales · No national statute

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments

N

Notification to process personal data

You must notify the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if your organisation processes personal data in an automated form

UK Government · England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Any trade

P

Pavement or street display licence (England and Wales)

Get a licence to put an advertising sign on the road or pavement in England and Wales - restrictions, fines, penalties

Your council · England and Wales

Any trade

Permission to distribute leaflets (England and Wales)

You may need to get permission to distribute free printed material in certain areas controlled by the local council.

Your council · England and Wales

Any trade

Permission to use street or pavement space for displays (Scotland)

You must get written permission to put advertising signs or displays on the road or pavement in Scotland - fines, penalties

Your council · Scotland

Any trade

R

Register a hairdressing business (Wales)

You may have to register a hairdressing or barbers business with your local council in Wales so that they can check you're following health …

Your council · Wales · No national statute

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments

T

Tattoo, piercing and electrolysis licence

Your council

England and Wales · Scotland · Northern Ireland

Beauty, hairdressing, nails and spa treatments · Tattooing, piercing and electrolysis

Where GOV.UK lists a licence separately for each nation, it appears here once with a link to each nation's version. They are separate licences in law, often resting on different legislation.

3 licences on this list have no national enabling statute behind them. The regime is council byelaws or a local Act, or a statute that reaches only part of the area, and those pages say so plainly rather than citing something that does not apply to you. We have not yet mapped an enabling instrument for 5 licences on this list. That is a gap in our graph, not a statement about the law, and those pages say so rather than guessing.

Checking approvals more broadly?

A licence is one of several things you may need before your first day of trading. The pre-trading quick check walks the registrations, insurances and approvals alongside it.

Run the pre-trading quick check

Not sure which of these apply to you?

Our guides on finding a licence and dealing with your local council walk through the questions that decide it.

Find a licence