IMPORTANT UPDATES

England

Since the release of the Oct 2023 consultation there has been ongoing delays to the second phase of the English consultation which was originally to be released in Feb/March2024.

It is now unlikely to be released until later in 2024 due to the General Election now being called this therefore means no one will be able to give a timescale for the implementation of the second phase of the English consultation, regulations and licensing.

Scotland

The Scottish Government announced in Nov 2025 that it would be introducing regulations by the Spring of 2026 

The first consultation in Scotland was held in 2020 with around 200 responses. The second consultation closed in Feb 2025 with just over 2,000 responses which is excellent compared to 2020.

Unfortunately over the past five years there had been little to no representation of non medics which makes up the largest sector of the aesthetic and beauty industry. This has changed since last year with the Scottish Government making efforts to include the views, concerns and potential problems that non medics face including the extreme bias and aggression levelled at non medics by medics.

The Scottish Government organised two meetings for non medics one in-person event that was held Friday 21st Feb  2025 and an online event that is due to be held end of Feb.

These two events are to enable non medic practitioners to air the views and concerns about not only proposed regulation but the potential impacts these will have on them as small businesses and solo practitioners.

Amongst various proposals the Scottish Government are also currently proposing that Botulinum Toxin and Dermal Fillers is HIS (HealthCare Improvement Scotland) and that a prescriber is required on premises during clinic hours.

LET'S BREAK IT DOWN - IS IT FEASABLE TO HAVE A PRESCRIBER ON PREMISES? 

Put simply NO it isn't - Why?

• Not enough prescribers within Scotland to cover the amount of clinics and practitioners we have!
• Prescribers have said that they will be a minimum of £500 per day with some stating they will be charging a minimum of £200 per hour for their services! 
• The NHS can not afford to lose more staff and certainly not their prescribers

This will have a devastating impact on clinics and solo practitioners not just non medics but some medics as well. The introduction of prescribers on premises will force many to close due to such extortionate fees prescribers are saying they will charge.

Let's talk HIS

Do we agree dermal fillers and botulinum toxin should be HIS registered....YES it has to be a level playing field for medics and non-medics alike! 

The issues surrounding HIS registration:

• Its £3500 plus VAT to register and this is non refundable whether you pass registration or not
• Its an annual renewal fee of around £1202 single practitioner to £1600 for clinics with staff
• The registration process currently takes a minimum of three months

The issue here is not being HIS registered its the high cost, and additional costs of prescribers otherwise you wont get the registration and the length of time it will take which will likely increase due to the amount of clinics that will need to register and they will not have the staff to handle such a large a volume of applications across Scotland!

Please see our page SCOTLAND REGULATIONS for up to date information!

Here at ABC we understand how confusing everything is when it comes to 

• CPD 
• QUALIFICATIONS 
• REGULATIONS 
• LICENSING

So, to make it simple let's first understand the history to beauty and aesthetics.

Our industry has NEVER been properly regulated nor has it required any form of licensing unless it is certain aspects of SPMU or piercing. This has meant that anyone has been able to go and do a one day cpd course in for example dermal fillers or Botulinum Toxin and then practice on the public without any oversight.

There also until recently have been no qualifications for aesthetic modalities and the way the industry dealt with this was what we call self regulation and courses were developed under the CPD banner. Whilst there is most certainly a place for cpd over the past few years we have unfortunately seen some shocking trainers and courses come on to the market leading to bad training and poorly educated practitioners both medics and non medics!

Thankfully this is changing with the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments each doing their own aesthetics and beauty consultations with regards introducing regulations and licensing. The English Government has started a consultation with the first phase out in Oct 2023 which covered various treatments and placed them in to the new traffic light system with

England

• GREEN allowing any qualified practitioner to do the treatments
• AMBER allowing suitably trained practitioners to practice those treatments subject to clinical oversight
• RED allowing only medics to practice certain treatments

The second stage of the UK Government consultation is due out very shortly and will cover the following

• TRAINING
• QUALIFICATIONS
• CLINICAL OVERSIGHT

It is worth noting here that it has been mentioned that there could be a third stage to the consultation to cover the impact on businesses.

Whilst no one can definitively say what will be introduced we do know from the KEOUGH REPORT and the government that ALL PRACTITIONERS WHETHER MEDIC OR NON MEDIC WILL BE REQUIRED TO BE

• KNOWLEDGABLE
• COMPETENT
• QUALIFIED

SCOTLAND AND WALES

Please note that the English consultation, regulations and licensing will apply to England only .

Scotland and Wales are undertaking their own consultations that reflect what is required in those devolved countries!