AUTUMN 2022 COSMETIC TREATMENTS COSMETIC CHANGE Beauty practitioners offering aesthetic non-surgical treatments will soon have to be licensed Long-awaited moves are afoot to regulate aesthetic non-surgical cosmetic treatments, a sector of the beauty industry that has caused concern among health and enforcement professionals for some time. An amendment to the Health and Care Bill was passed by parliament earlier this year, meaning a national licensing scheme for the aesthetics industry is now on the horizon. There has been a significant increase in the range of beauty treatments being offered by non-medically trained high street practitioners in recent years. These include botox and fillers, and other treatments using needles and threads. Practitioners need only complete training courses of a couple of days duration and often providing inadequate infection-prevention information before being let loose on the public. Many high street beauty treatments have the potential to cause serious harm to the customer both physically and mentally unless they are conducted safely. Even so, there is currently no legal requirement for practitioners to have a national qualification or undergo relevant training. These emerging treatments are not specifically covered by the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, which applies to this sector and covers a very limited number of traditional treatments, such as tattooing and acupuncture. Local authority environmental health officers and industry bodies have become increasingly concerned about the quality and extent of training undertaken, and the infection-prevention controls implemented by those who offer these treatments. These concerns were regularly discussed at meetings of the West Midlands Regional Skin Piercing and Special Treatments Group, whose members helped inform the campaign that eventually led to the bill amendment being tabled. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) worked with the Institute of Licensing and multiple health and beauty partner organisations to campaign for effective regulation of aesthetic non-surgical cosmetic treatments. CIEHs draft amendment to the Health and Care Bill attracted cross-party support from MPs, and the government then tabled its own amendment to the bill, which has since been passed. This means the Secretary of State for Health can now introduce a national licensing scheme, which would make it an offence to carry out aesthetic cosmetic procedures without being licensed and meeting minimum hygiene and safety standards. The scope and details of the scheme will be established through a public consultation, and the government will need to liaise with regulators, public health partners and beauty industry bodies to ensure it meets its objective of protecting the safety and wellbeing of the public, while being flexible enough to include emerging procedures. Legislation that makes it illegal to administer aesthetic treatments to anyone under the age of 18, or advertise such procedures on social media that target under-18s, was recently introduced. See TSBN Winter 2021. Credit: Rebecca Evans, health and safety officer, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council Image: iStock / 5./15 WEST For further information, please contact your local Trading Standards Service