Small businesses are running out of time to make the necessary changes for the introduction of the smoking ban, which comes into force on 1st July.

The Federation of Small Businesses, through its legal advice partner Abbey Legal, is reminding small business owners that virtually every public place of employment must be smoke-free. This also extends to work vehicles.

Companies are required to put up ‘no smoking’ signs at each public entrance to their premises and must make staff aware that smoking at work will be illegal from the start of next month. Business owners that fail to comply with the new law could face fines of up to £2,500 while individuals can be fined up £200.

“Everyone has known for a long time that 1st July is D-day as far as the smoking ban in England is concerned,” said Mary Boughton, FSB Health and Safety chairman. “However, if a small business gets the details wrong it could prove very costly. The fines for an individual are very small but for a business they can run into thousands of pounds.

“There are many different types of business and business premises but the ban will affect them all in some way,” she added. It’s important that businesses are organised.”

Meanwhile the TUC is urging companies to take the ban as an opportunity to help staff quit the smoking habit altogether. “Many smokers say they intend to use the introduction of the ban as the reason they’ve all been waiting for to give up,” said Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary. “But instead of help and support for employees, we’ve heard much talk of banning cigarette breaks and of demonising smoking staff more generally.

“A far better approach would be to help workers break the habit,” he added. “Employers should run in-house stop-smoking sessions and offer staff who smoke patches, gum or hypnosis to encourage them to quit.

“The small cost of providing this would be more than offset by the individual health and business benefits of reducing the number of smokers within the workforce.”