The government official guidance relating to the Smoke Free law currently in place is known as the “Everything You Need” guide. The guidance offers organisations as well as businesses; including those which employ staff everything they need to know to ensure that they adhere to the Smoke Free legislation fully.
Download the official guidance Everything You Need here.
Download the more accessible version of the guidance here.
- Please note that to open and read the accessible PDF version you will need to have installed the latest version of Adobe Reader which may be found
The main Everything You Need guidance in a number of languages is available via the links below:
| Arabic (PDF, 998KB) | Polish (PDF, 988KB) |
| Bengali (PDF, 1,1MB) | Punjabi (PDF, 1MB) |
| Classical Chinese (PDF, 1,3MB) | Turkish (PDF,1MB) |
| Gujurati (PDF, 1MB) | Urdu (PDF, 3,3MB) |
To access the MP3 audio book version of the full guidance click here.
Guidance for Businesses
A useful guide for businesses in leaflet form, making clear what the Smoke Free law means for businesses may be downloaded here.
Guidance for Staff / Workers Visiting Clients in Their Own Homes
The Smoke Free Law does not ban individuals smoking in their own homes therefore visitors, such as health visitors may not insist that clients stop smoking. To offer guidance and support for visitors in this situation the TUC (The Trade Union Congress) have put together the following:
Guidance for people visiting clients in their own homes (Smoke Free)
Additional guidance may be sought via the TUC website.
Information Leaflets for Individuals
For details on how the Smoke Free legislation affects you as an individual the government has put together an additional leaflet. These leaflets are for personal use as well as for sharing with visitors and customers.
Download the government guidance leaflet for individuals here.
These individual leaflets have been translated into a number of languages which may be found below.
| Easy read version (PDF, 522KB) |
No Smoking Signs
It is essential that all public areas, businesses and premises display the appropriate signage according to the smoke free legislation These signs make it clear to all that the place in question, including vehicles are all no smoking areas. They also demonstrate that as the owner or manager that you are ensuring that all necessary steps are being taken to ensure full compliance with the legislation.
The government guidance documents regarding the appropriate signage as well as printable signs may be downloaded from below.
*Please note that in order for the signage to meet regulations that the page scaling feature in the print settings of your computer must be switched off in order for the final print out to be correctly sized. In both signs the no-smoking symbol must remain at least 7cm in diameter.
Downloads
This sign is an A5 version of the no smoking sign – download here.*Note all signs must meet the minimum requirement of being A5 in size (210mm x 148mm)
This PDF contains a symbol-only no smoking sign – download here.*Where a sign consists solely of the internally recognised no smoking symbol this must measure at least 7cm in diameter and be located at the entrance of any smoke free premises that is used by staff. Similarly where at least one A5 are sign is displayed and for larger premises this symbol-only sign might be used (for example in a store within a shopping centre which clearly sports larger text-included signs at the entrance).
Business are free under the Smoke Free legislation to design their own signage to fit with their branding / decor (etc) provided signs adhere to the minimum standards within in the guidelines. Included in this is the ability to change the allocated text “these premises” to “this shop”, “Dave’s Bar” etc.
Examples of these may be downloaded via the PDF files below:
- ‘in communal parts of this building’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 48KB)
- ‘in this bus shelter’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 50KB)
- ‘in this cafe’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 50KB)
- ‘in this doorway’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 50KB)
- ‘in this hotel’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 50KB)
- ‘in this pub’ A5 no-smoking sign (PDF, 50KB)
See below for bilingual versions of the same signage:
| Arabic (PDF, 453KB) | Polish (PDF, 443KB) |
| Bengali (PDF, 442KB) | Punjabi (PDF, 444KB) |
| Classical Chinese (PDF, 502KB) | Turkish (PDF, 443KB) |
| Gujurati (PDF, 444KB) | Urdu (PDF, 465KB) |
Additional Supporting Materials
A selection of materials have been designed and put together in order to offer extra guidance to businesses and any other organisations responsible for providing and maintaining a smoke free environment. Those who are not compliant with the regulations will face heavy penalties. The below downloads will offer support and guidance where required to ensure this doesn’t happen.
Smoke Free Policy
This PDF offers an example smoke free policy that businesses may use to put together their own in order to inform staff, new and existing of the restrictions in place and the purpose behind them.
A Smoke Free Document / Flow Chart
This is an example document which could be utilised by businesses to work out and display the steps that owners / managers (etc) can and will take in the event of the smoke free policy not being adhered to in premises and vehicles that fall under the legislation.
Offering Support to Those Wishing to Give up Smoking
Many employers alongside the smoke free legislation are choosing to offer support and guidance to staff wishing to give up smoking. There are a range of support services available and much guidance on support others which may be found on the NHS Go Smoke Free website.
Ordering No Smoking Materials
Local councils will be able to provide businesses with appropriate signage and give up to date and appropriate advice. Contacting them directly is the most efficient way to find the information and business / locality specific resources needed.