​The majority of our business base is now open across North Tyneside.

We’ve been working together with North Tyneside Council to support businesses in the borough to get back to work in a safe way through the ‘Restarting Business in North Tyneside’ campaign. This has been running since June and brings together lots of information you may need to make sure your business is Covid-Secure.

We are supporting businesses with the Government guidance and working with Forum members to provide peer-to-peer advice – showcasing businesses which have adapted and the measures they have introduced.

Permitted to open

The majority of businesses are permitted to open.

Businesses which are NOT permitted to re-open are nightclubs, dance halls, discotheques, sexual entertainment venues and hostess bars. Guidance can be found here.

Covid Secure Guidelines

Every sector must think about how they are going to socially distance staff and customers from themselves and each other.

There’s guidance available for close contact services; construction and other outdoor work; factories, plants & warehouses; heritage locations; hotels and other guest accommodation; other people’s homes; restaurants, pubs, bars and takeaway services; shops and branches; vehicles; and the visitor economy. This can all be found here.

Here’s some of the things you may not have thought about in preparation for re-opening…don’t forget to carry out a Covid-19 risk assessment and check the guidance for your sector on the Government website

Employers should also display a notice visibly in their shop windows or outside their store to show their employees, customers and other visitors that they have followed this guidance. Any business with over 50 employees is expected to display this. You can download the poster here

Test & Trace

Venues in hospitality, the tourism and leisure industry, close contact services and local authority facilities must:

• ask at least one member of every party of customers or visitors (up to 6 people) to provide their name and contact details
• keep a record of all staff working on their premises and shift times on a given day and their contact details
• keep these records of customers, visitors and staff for 21 days and provide data to NHS Test and Trace if requested
• display an official NHS QR code poster so that customers and visitors can ‘check in’ using this option as an alternative to providing their contact details
• adhere to General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

Hospitality venues must also take reasonable steps to refuse entry to those who refuse to participate.

Failure to do any of these requirements could result in fixed penalty fines.

More information can be found here

NHS COVID-19 app

The NHS COVID-19 app has a feature that allows users to quickly and easily ‘check in’ to your venue by scanning the code. The information stays on the user’s phone. In England, you do not have to ask people who choose to ‘check in’ using the official NHS QR code to provide their contact details.

Businesses can create their QR code here 

Local Outbreak Plan

North Tyneside Council recently published an outbreak control plan for North Tyneside. The plan sets out how North Tyneside is working together to prevent outbreaks in the borough and if North Tyneside should experience an outbreak how they will respond.

You can find a letter to businesses here and an Action Card for businesses here

Support not report

We’re asking members of the public to also support businesses as they adapt to the new challenges of reopening. So, if you visit a business, whether that’s a shop, office, factory, and see a mistake around social distancing, or PPE, for example, don’t take photos and ‘shame’ them on social media. Instead speak to staff or the owner and let them know your concerns. Support them. Don’t report them.

Everything is new to businesses when reopening and business owners are trying their best to make it safe for everyone and run their business. Let’s help each other. *Of course if it is a big issue, do report it through the appropriate channels.