Pet shops can be open for business but the priority should always be to keep you, your staff and your customers safe within the Government advice on social distancing.

Here’s a link to the latest lockdown restrictions announced in November 2020 for England.

Here is a link to the Health and Safety Executive about carrying out a risk assessment to keep open for business.

This is a link to more information about the NHS Test and Trace system if a member of staff thinks they have coronavirus.

Read our advice for pet shops that stay open.

Read government advice on social distancing at work.

Read our travel advice, including what to keep with you in case you are stopped. This includes a template letter

Read our ideas for businesses to help stay safe and open.

See our advice here about advice on key worker status.

There is useful advice here from ACAS for employers and their staff which covers issues about continuing to work.

Check out this free online training on covid-19 awareness.

Selling plants by home delivery

If you have set up a temporary home delivery service for plants then unfortunately this does mean you should be issuing plant passports to the customers who receive them. You might not have done this before if you only sold plants in your shops direct to customers. We have asked for advice from Defra on this who have told us it will take a pragmatic view on this. So if you are doing this and only intend to do home deliveries during the current crisis (as a temporary arrangement only) then ensure you are registered as a Professional Operator and be aware of the guidance on GOV.uk and the Plant Health Portal. You might also find our plant passport guidance explains more (but bear in mind this was written before the current crisis).