The Working Safely During Coronavirus guidance for restaurants, pubs, bars and take-away services has been updated to provide more detail on taking payments. For premises that sell alcohol, there is a requirement for table service only – this applies even if the customer is not purchasing alcohol – and for payment to be taken at the table. However, because these businesses are only able to serve customers sitting outside from 12 April until 17 May, and electronic payment connections may not have sufficient range, the guidance has been updated to say that:

“if it’s not possible to take payment outdoors, for example due to a technical issue, you can take payment indoors as a last resort. If you need to take payment indoors the customer should wear a face covering unless exempt, you should ensure only one customer is indoors at any time for the purpose of making payment, and you should operate a tab system to ensure that customers do not need to make multiple indoor payments during their time at the venue.”

You can read the guidance here.