BABTAC pushes for beauty industry regulation to aid consumer safety
By Helena Biggs | 22 October 2020 | Movers & Shakers, News
The British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology (BABTAC) has launched Make Beauty Safe, a campaign to make the unregulated beauty industry safer for consumers.
A statement from BABTAC reads: “Currently, lack of legislation in the UK beauty industry means there is nothing to stop someone with little or no training from establishing themselves as a seemingly professional therapist.
“The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has released a report on the regulation of cosmetics treatments that discloses, ‘the existing legislation available to most local authorities in England and Northern Ireland to regulate this sector is no longer fit for purpose.'”
There are an estimated 50,000 salons and 300,000 beauty employees currently in the UK*, and beauty treatments which, if performed incorrectly, could cause serious harm to an individual’s health.
“This is not just limited to the advanced treatments such as laser, micropigmentation and skin needling, but even the more routine ones like waxing and lash extensions that can have severe consequences,” the statement continues. “There’s also the hugely popular trend of injectables to be considered, where the risks of complications can be devastating.”
BABTAC, with the support of other industry leaders including the British Beauty Council are working to campaign for change in government legislation.
“We need accountability; we need regulation. Now so more than ever,” comments Lesley Blair, chair at BABTAC. “With confusion around COVID safety measures, a clear code of conduct needs to be established to ensure safety of all those encountering the beauty industry – be it professionally or personally.
Lesley Blair
“There are so many issues to contend with. From two-day courses selling themselves as reputable qualifications to unqualified practitioners administering injectables, without the means to deal with any complications should they arise. We need a government regulated standard across all areas of beauty. Without this standardisation, we will never be taken seriously as an industry and will continue to compromise consumer safety.”
“There are a huge amount of qualified, experienced, fully insured beauty experts out there to do treatments and we want to shine a light on them and help educate the consumer on what to look out for.”
“We believe that there needs to be a minimum of a mandatory register that can verify all therapists are competently qualified and have a fit for purpose qualification and adequate insurance to ensure the safety of both therapist and client.
“The ultimate goal would be for full regulation, either by the government or independent industry bodies – other industries have this, so we should too. Over recent times there have been other priorities for the government.
“We do believe there has been far more focus on our industry over the pandemic crisis and we need to make use of this exposure to raise awareness of the real dangers currently facing our sector.”
Millie Kendall MBE
This sentiment is backed up by Millie Kendall MBE, who comments: “When we first set up The British Beauty Council we proposed everyone working together. We would like a real concerted effort from the trade bodies to come together to support regulation along with the backing of government to provide a more in depth understanding of the sector.
“It’s clear to all of us that the easiest and best way to start would be to target aesthetics first as it’s been challenging in terms of reputation for some time. So much can go wrong and appropriate training standards will ensure safety as well as the elevation of our workforce.”
To show your support of the campaign, sign the petition here and BABTAC will then send a letter to the government laying out the steps it is urging them to make.