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There are fears tattoo artists will have to increase their prices as Wales becomes the first part of the UK to introduce new rules for artists. The Welsh government rules mean practitioners will have to meet stricter hygiene and safety standards in order to be given a licence, which they’ll have to renew every three years. It follows concerns from medics about the risk of serious infections.
Kim Thomas, a tattoo artist in Newport, said the industry had become “much more mainstream now” and agrees more safety regulation is needed. “I imagine the prices of tattoos are going to go up to accommodate this,” she said.
As the owner of a tattoo studio, not only do I have to insure myself and do the extra course, but I then have to license myself and the studio,” she said. “Which means that when we’ve got to do this every three years, it’s going to cost quite a lot.”
The new rules are the final phase of changes under the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017, to improve standards of infection prevention and control, but were delayed by Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
Keith Reid, deputy chief medical officer for Wales, said the rules would give people an “extra level of assurance around safety”.
“We’re concerned about skin infections, which can be a problem around tattooing,” he said. “We’re also concerned about the risk of blood-borne infections, which can be a risk with anything that pierces the skin. So the purpose of the regime is to reduce the risk to the public, and make it safer for the public who wish to undergo these procedures.”
He added that fees had been set “at a very modest level”, and that renewal every three years was a “reasonable compromise”.
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