All the courses that are accredited with many professional bodies are recognised by the councils, who have many of them on their list of approved qualifications to accept. However please be aware that some councils have different guidelines so you will need to contact the council direct before signing up for a course as they are all different, so it is best to check first.
We have been informed by the accrediting bodies in the past, that they are not really sure of each one’s criteria, they said that certain disciplines aren’t required to even get a licence i.e. chiropractors, osteopaths etc. They advise each individual student to speak direct to the council as they will only deal with individuals (the student) and not the training school as sometimes the therapist may have something that they will not accept as it is not always down to the qualification, but the individual.
Please note - we are not able to contact the council on your behalf as they will not deal direct with the schools, only with the therapists applying.
The council usually say that although they issue the licence they refer applications to the environmental health department for approval of qualifications – FHT for Westminster and other councils, we assume other councils are the same but it is advised to check first.
We have also spoken to the environmental health department (Tel 0207 641 3161) and they said that the qualifications are considered individually and if they are rejected then they will be sent paperwork listing the reasons why. They mentioned that a student should not go to the training school if a council have rejected their application to find out as they will not be told, it is between the student and the council and nothing to do with the training school and they would be happy to advise where necessary.
When a student has been rejected before (which is rare but can happen) we were told it is advised that the student speak to the council direct as they should have received a notification (if you get rejected for any reason) with the rejection paperwork as to the reasons why. They have the information regarding what qualifications the therapists have and they should have the information from the council as to why they were rejected.
It unfortunately has nothing to do with our training as it is to do with their criteria with regard to the individual student and this is out of our hands, however usually most councils will accept students' qualifications but will let them know why if there is an issue.
Accrediting bodies have stated the following:
Insurance versus Councils & Special Treatment Licences:
It is really important here that we split insurance and Council Licences so as not to risk confusion. Insurance is obviously a recommended (but not compulsory) undertaking for Therapists to protect them in the event of a claim.
Councils are unfortunately a different matter; because the beauty industry is unregulated, there are no centrally-agreed legal or Government guidelines for the industry. As a result, Local and District Councils have the autonomy to decide expenditure, priority, standards and approach to beauty therapists in the local area. They will decide this based on the number of complaints, insurance claims, the opinion of the person running it, if their constituents have demanded it etc. As a result of this diversity, the standards and requirements across the UK vary wildly and there are no definitive measures therapists can achieve.
What this means is that where possible, we (the accrediting bodies) will work with Councils to ensure that our membership can be used as an alternative to special licences or can at least help to reduce fees. Our success with the Councils varies Council by Council for example Westminster currently recommend us, but others don’t. Acceptance by Councils is not something we promise, nor are we likely ever to be able to promise, but neither can other accreditation providers; in fact, ours has the most penetration with Councils. We are also working on building relationships with more and more Councils each month.
Unfortunately, the decision makers in the Council do not always have relevant or current information to make their decisions; requesting an NVQ or City & Guilds is naive given that a) there are other Awarding Organisations and b) there are many treatments which have bespoke qualifications because they are so new, yet no C&G qualification. This is where we will work to help out / educate.
The accrediting bodies have said when they get the following email this is how they respond “I got our courses accredited with you as I thought you were an approved body by the councils”. Our accreditation scheme does not claim Council acceptance but does enable your students to be insured by us. Many Councils do recognise us as one of, or the only professional association in the industry, but not all. From here, we will get in touch with the Council and see what we can do to resolve the situation.
So, it is advised if this happens to any students to get in touch with the professional body they are a member of and have insurance with, for them to help you.
