Pubs won't be required to ask for contact details from 19 July
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to confirm this tonight (5 July) along with updates on the future of social distancing and face coverings.
Pubs must currently ensure every visitor to a venue leaves their contact details either on paper or through scanning a QR code on the NHS Covid-19 app.
Venues must then store this data for 21 days in case it is required by NHS Test and Trace contact tracers.
Under step four of the Government’s unlocking roadmap, there will not be any legal requirement on pubs or customers to provide or store data.
It is expected that ‘freedom day’ on 19 July will be given the green light and other restrictions on venues will be lifted.
Unfair protocols
Night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester Sacha Lord welcomed newspaper reports of the change over the weekend.
He said: “The crisis has seen countless unfair protocols put in place, with strict processes demanded for hospitality while other sectors such as retail have been free to operate normally. From the start, we have argued against the data collection process which unfairly discriminated against hospitality and made for an uneven playing field on our path to recovery.”
The requirement “misled the public” to think of hospitality venues as dangerous spaces, even though there were “little to zero tracing protocols implemented in other settings and therefore incomparable data.”
Lord added: “The need for hospitality venues to capture the personal data of each customer not only put unnecessary pressure on staff to implement new systems, but has undoubtedly led to a reduction in trade as customers became disgruntled with the ritual.
The night czar was among trade voices calling on the Government to confirm that rules such as mandated table service and booking limits would also be scrapped come 19 July.
