Overview
- Ministers set out plans to require ID verification at tanning salons and to ban unsupervised commercial sunbed sessions to better enforce the under‑18 prohibition.
- Government evidence says teenagers, including some as young as 14, have been able to use sunbeds despite the 2010 law.
- Health officials cite WHO findings that sunbeds are a Group 1 carcinogen and note a 47% higher melanoma risk for those who use a sunbed before age 20.
- The consultation will seek input from tanning businesses on costs and practicality to ensure proportionate, enforceable rules, alongside a call for evidence on further melanoma prevention.
- The push is framed as a cost‑saving public‑health measure, with nearly a quarter of a million UK skin cancer diagnoses in 2023 and an estimated £750 million annual NHS treatment bill, and is backed by Melanoma Focus citing high teen usage.