A ‘Feature’ article by David Clifton and Suzanne Davies for pubandbar.com (entitled ‘No jab, no entry?’) explores grounds on which a pub or bar might be able turn away customers on the basis of a ‘No Vaccine, No Face-Mask, No Entry, No Service’ rule.

This inspiration for this article arose from a series of questions posed to us by a pub owner in the north of England before the Prime Minister delivered his ‘roadmap’ out of Covid-19 lockdown statement on 22 February 2021.

The questions included such matters as a pub landlord’s right to adopt a ‘no-vaccine, no entry’ rule, or to refuse entry either:

• without giving any reason or
• unless someone produces proof they are exempted from wearing a face mask.

You can find out our answers (that will also have bearing on other hospitality businesses) in the article, that you can download below.

UPDATE: 

On 15 March 2021, the Cabinet Office commenced a three-question consultation (that will run until 11.45pm on 29 March 2021) in which it issues a call for evidence to inform its review into whether COVID-status certification could play a role in reopening the UK economy, reducing restrictions on social contact and improving safety.

Explaining this, it describes the situation as follows:

COVID-status certification refers to the use of testing or vaccination data to confirm in different settings that individuals have a lower risk of getting sick with or transmitting COVID-19 to others. Such certification would be available both to vaccinated people and to unvaccinated people who have been tested.

The government will assess to what extent certification would be effective in reducing risk, and its potential uses in enabling access to settings or relaxing COVID-secure mitigations.

The government is looking to consider the ethical, equalities, privacy, legal and operational aspects of a potential certification scheme, and what limits, if any, should be placed on organisations using certification.

We are issuing this call for evidence to inform this review into COVID-status certification, to ensure that the recommendations reflect a broad range of interests and concerns. We welcome views from all respondents.

The questions

The consultation/call for evidence (that can be accessed here) poses the following three questions:

Question 1: Which of the following best describes the capacity in which you are responding to this call for evidence?

I am a:

1. Business that owns or operates a venue that may make use of a potential certification scheme
2. Business with an interest in supporting a potential certification scheme
3. Other type of business
4. Business representative organisation or trade body
5. Representative of central or local government
6. Charity or social enterprise
7. Individual
8. Academic or researcher
9. Legal representative
10. Trade union or staff association
11. Other (please specify)

Question 2: In your view, what are the key considerations, including opportunities and risks, associated with a potential COVID-status certification scheme? We would welcome specific reference to:

1. clinical / medical considerations
2. legal considerations
3. operational / delivery considerations
4. considerations relating to the operation of venues that could use a potential COVID-status certification scheme
5. considerations relating to the responsibilities or actions of employers under a potential COVID-status certification scheme
6. ethical considerations
7. equalities considerations
8. privacy considerations

Question 3: Are there any other comments you would like to make to inform the COVID-status certification review?

How to respond

Those wishing to respond should submit their response before 11.45pm on 29 March 2021 by email to: certification.cfe@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

The gov.uk consultation webpage states:

You can respond either with text in an email or with attachments to an email. There is no requirement for each response to cover every question: please respond to the questions which are most relevant to you and your expertise. Responses do not need to be exhaustive – we welcome short responses that provide relevant comments.