LATEST ON THE NEW REGULATIONS

Industry regulation watcher Pete Richardson takes a look where we are at after deadline after deadline is passed by The Government.

We were supposed to know “by July 2023” what the consultation process will look like on new regulations for the aesthetics industry.

As August has come and gone (just two days left as I write) we seem to be no nearer knowing what on earth is going on.

Back in May the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP) help an online meeting to discuss what was likely to happen and also highlighting some of the challenges facing The Government since it has pledged to overhaul the industry and bring in new legislation.

The new law is all part of primary legislation withing the Health and Care Act which will fundamentally change the way injectable treatments are practiced in England and Wales.

It is a complicated situation as the Government has pledged to implement new national educational standards and licencing to include a personal licence and a premises licence.

Given that there are tens of thousands of people already active in the industry The Government must make sure everyone is able to achieve the new standards and abide by the law within a timescale as yet unknown.

So, there is still a great deal of uncertainty but there ARE thing we do know now.

We know the Government promised to have the consultation phase in operation “by July” – and it is not.

We know that walking a fine line between making the new law too strict or too lenient is not going to be easy. Which is probably why this is all taking so long.

Imaging this: If there are say 30,000 practitioners who all need to achieve a new national qualification standard that takes up to two years to complete – that’s a massive amount of teachers, assessors and aesthetic training academies that will need to be accredited to deliver the new qualification. That doesn’t seem feasible at this point in time.

And we don’t yet know what that qualification will look like and to what level it will need to be. Level 4, 5, 6 or 7 even?

For reference Level 3 is equivalent to an A level, Level 4 is equivalent to a certificate of higher education (CertHE) or higher apprenticeship or higher national certificate (HNC), Level 5 is a diploma of higher education (DipHE), a foundation degree or an higher national diploma (HND), Level 6 is equivalent to an honours degree and Level 7 is equivalent to a masters degree.

Section 180 of the legislation sets out the goal posts for the new law and will cover procedures for cosmetic purposes that are non-surgical and non-dental BUT it is not yet defined what “cosmetic purposes” means!

However, we do know the legislation will cover the five areas of treatments where practitioners will need both new qualifications and licenses. These are:

• The application of a substance that is capable of penetrating into or through the epidermis
• The injection of a substance
• The placing of threads under the skin
• The insertion of needles into the skin
• The application of light, electricity, cold or heat

And also the new premises licence is likely to be similar to CQC requirements and if you have a CQC licence that may well exempt you from needing the new licence. But all places where any of the above treatments are carried out will need to have a premises licence.

You will probably also need things like a fire safety licence, and prove you are fit and proper person – so probably need to undergo police checks.

What level of qualification will you need to achieve. Well, that’s likely to be determined after the consultation process and there are various groups pushing for various levels. It is important to remember that doctors train to level 6 in the UK and the JCCP and other medical bodies are pushing for all this legislation to require level 7 qualifications across the board – so even for micro-needling.

The JCCP is also pushing for threads to be considered a surgical procedure and not as it is currently defined as a cosmetic procedure, and therefore only those with surgical qualifications would be able to carry out threads treatments.

So, while we wait to hear the remit of the consultation process, we can only take an educated guess at what might happen.

Maybe in late 2024 or even into 2025 the law will change to make it illegal to administer Botox and fillers unless you have a minimum national qualification. This may be at level 7 – especially for Botox but may be a lesser level for fillers?

All practitioners will be given a number of years to achieve the new educational standards – maybe two or three years. Therefore, in effect the law will come into force one day for anyone new to the industry and in another three years or so for anyone already practicing – and maybe even as late as 2027 or 2028.