Council accuses Welsh Government of being ‘behind the times’ on beauty treatment licensing

Alec Doyle – Local democracy reporter

The Welsh Government is behind the times and needs to include beauty procedures like fillers and botox in new Special Procedures Licensing according to a north Wales council.

Members of Flintshire County Council’s Licensing Committee will now write to the Senedd urging them to make aesthetic procedures that involve piercing the skin subject to the same new licensing conditions as tattooing and body piercing.

New measures came into force in Wales on November 29 requiring  any practitioners of Special Procedures – specifically cosmetic piercing, tattooing, semi-permanent makeup such as microblading, acupuncture, dry needling and electrolysis to have a new license.

Convictions

To qualify practitioners would need a valid DBS to show they had no convictions that prohibit them working, that their premises and working practices were safe and sterile and obtain the new regulated Level 2 award in Infection Prevention and Control for Special Procedure Practitioners.

Practitioners are no longer allowed to practise without a license and all licensed individuals and businesses will be registered on a public database so the public can search for licensed practitioners in their area.

In England, where similar licensing regulations are being introduced, beauty procedures will need to be licensed in the same way as tattooists and piercers.

“I think Wales is a bit behind the times if England is doing this already,” said Saltney Ferry Cllr Richard Lloyd. “At the end of the day these aesthetic procedures involve a needle going into your skin.

“I’m fearful of people going down the road and into someone’s house to get injections that are not covered by this license. The Welsh Government need to get their act together.”

Flintshire’s Health, Safety and Environmental Control Manager Gill Hulme said she expected this legislation to be phase one with more procedures added in 12 months time.

“It’s astonishing how long it’s taken to get to this point, Welsh Government started looking at this in 2013,” she said.

“Health and safety legislation still governs beauty parlours, they just don’t fall into this licensing scheme at the moment.

“This is the first part of the regulations. I think the idea from Welsh Government was that they would see how this rolled out, they would put a licensing scheme in place for these restricted areas and then within 12 months they would review it and see if any other areas would come into it.”

Concerns

Buckley Bistre West Cllr Carolyn Preece agreed with Cllr Lloyd’s concerns.

“The Welsh Government have been extremely slow,” she said. “Botox parties have been going on for a long time and the dangers of that are well known. These things need to be included in the licensing scheme.”

The Licensing Committee agreed to write to Welsh Government to urge it to look again at including businesses and individuals offering invasive beauty treatments in the licensing framework.

There are around 150 existing eligible tattooists and piercing practitioners who required a license under the new regulations.

They are allowed to continue trading until August while they apply for their Special Procedures license.

According to Flintshire’s Planning, Environment and Economy department, 50 have already applied, around 90% of those who have not are in the process of gaining their infection prevention and control certificate in order to apply and no red flags or barriers to practise have been raised through DBS checks on applicants so far.