During Autum of 2023, the Government rolled out a consultation canvassing opinions from the public to assess the potential implementation of licensing for non-surgical procedures in England. The announcement of this sparked widespread speculation from practitioners as to how the regulatory landscape of the industry may change.  After nearly two years of consideration and over 11,800 responses, the consultation responses have been published online by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The consultation response outlines that the Government are set to introduce regulations to crackdown on unsafe non-surgical cosmetic procedures to protect the public and maintain uniform standards in the industry. The main aim is to ensure that those procedures deemed to be high risk, such as liquid BBL’s, will now be classified as Care Quality Commission (“CQC”) regulated activities and therefore will only be able to be carried out by specified healthcare professionals. The Government will seek to implement age restrictions in respect of those undergoing non-surgical cosmetic procedures and implement local authority licensing schemes for procedures deemed as lower risk under the Health and Care Act 2022.

Initially, the Government will prioritise the above, focusing on procedures considered to be high risk in a bid to protect the public from severe harm. To do this, the CQC and Department of Health and Social Care will collaborate in the upcoming months to determine how these regulations and restrictions will come into effect. The plans extend to the regulations of the deemed “lower risk” cosmetic treatments, such as Botox, lip fillers and facial dermal fillers once the regulations restricting the “highest risk” procedures are implemented.

The proposed regulations will require practitioners to meet rigorous safety, training and insurance standards before they can legally operate as well as mandating clinics to obtain a licence. Breach of these regulations may attract proceedings brought by the CQC and/or financial penalties.

The Minister of State for Health Karin Smyth stated within the report that “The cosmetics industry has been plagued by a Wild West of dodgy practitioners and procedures. There are countless horror stories of cosmetic cowboys causing serious, catastrophic damage. This isn’t about stopping anyone from getting treatments - it’s about preventing rogue operators from exploiting people at the expense of their safety and keeping people safe. We’re giving them peace of mind and reducing the cost to the NHS of fixing botched procedures.”

The measures outlined in the August report represent groundbreaking change in the industry.  

The Department of Health and Social Care are working closely with stakeholders to develop the practicalities of the new licensing scheme which will incorporate the views and responses gathered from the online consultation. It is confirmed that a further consultation will be launched in due course to inform the public of the Government’s plans.

These new proposals are likely to come into force early 2026.