Licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures
- From:
- Department of Health and Social Care
- Published
- 2 September 2023
- Last updated
- 7 August 2025 — See all updates
Applies to England
Summary
This consultation has concluded
Read the full outcome
Annex: experimental analysis of consultation responses - data tables
ODS, 23.3 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Detail of outcome
The consultation on the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England set out and invited views on a range of proposals for legislative oversight of the performance of cosmetic procedures in England. The consultation received over 11,800 responses, with the majority agreeing with the proposals put forward in the consultation.
Following analysis of the responses received, the government’s response to the consultation sets out its commitment to:
-
introduce legal restrictions which will ensure that cosmetic procedures which are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public (such as liquid Brazilian butt lifts) are classed as Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities - which can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals
-
develop and implement local authority licensing for lower risk procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022
-
introduce age restrictions for those undergoing non-surgical cosmetic procedures
While the government is committing to these strands of work, initial work will prioritise the introduction of restrictions for high-risk procedures, to protect the public from the serious harm which the most invasive procedures can cause. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and CQC will work closely together in the coming months to detail how these restrictions will be put into effect. The proposed changes will be detailed in a public consultation, to be launched early next year.
DHSC will also continue to work with stakeholders to develop the architecture of the local authority licensing scheme. The consultation responses have been helpful in highlighting where further work is needed to determine specific procedures’ classification within the scheme, and around the elements which will underpin the scheme. Further public consultation will take place to inform the government’s plans in this space.
The proposals will be taken forward through secondary legislation and therefore subject to the Parliamentary process before the legal restrictions or licensing regulations can be introduced.
Original consultation
Summary
We are seeking your views on what procedures should be in scope of the licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England.
This consultation closesran atfrom
to
Consultation description
The government brought forward an amendment to the Health and Care Act 2022 which gives the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to bring into force a licensing scheme in England for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that consumers who choose to undergo a non-surgical cosmetic procedure can be confident that the treatment they receive is safe and of a high standard. Under the proposed scheme, practitioners will need to be licensed to perform specific procedures and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed.
In this consultation we are seeking your views on:
- the types of treatments that we propose are included within the licensing scheme
- whether any procedures should be carried out only either by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals or under their clinical oversight
- whether procedures permitted to be carried out only by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals should only be carried out by Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers
- whether potential age restrictions should be imposed on those receiving specified procedures, in line with age restrictions on botulinum toxin injections, cosmetic fillers, tattoos, teeth whitening and sunbed use
Documents
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Updates to this page
Published 2 September 2023
Last updated 7 August 2025
href="#full-history">+ show all updates
-
Added the government's response to the consultation.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Read the full outcome
Annex: experimental analysis of consultation responses - data tables
ODS, 23.3 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Detail of outcome
The consultation on the licensing of non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England set out and invited views on a range of proposals for legislative oversight of the performance of cosmetic procedures in England. The consultation received over 11,800 responses, with the majority agreeing with the proposals put forward in the consultation.
Following analysis of the responses received, the government’s response to the consultation sets out its commitment to:
-
introduce legal restrictions which will ensure that cosmetic procedures which are deemed to pose the highest level of risk to the public (such as liquid Brazilian butt lifts) are classed as Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulated activities - which can only be performed by specified regulated healthcare professionals
-
develop and implement local authority licensing for lower risk procedures through powers granted through the Health and Care Act 2022
-
introduce age restrictions for those undergoing non-surgical cosmetic procedures
While the government is committing to these strands of work, initial work will prioritise the introduction of restrictions for high-risk procedures, to protect the public from the serious harm which the most invasive procedures can cause. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and CQC will work closely together in the coming months to detail how these restrictions will be put into effect. The proposed changes will be detailed in a public consultation, to be launched early next year.
DHSC will also continue to work with stakeholders to develop the architecture of the local authority licensing scheme. The consultation responses have been helpful in highlighting where further work is needed to determine specific procedures’ classification within the scheme, and around the elements which will underpin the scheme. Further public consultation will take place to inform the government’s plans in this space.
The proposals will be taken forward through secondary legislation and therefore subject to the Parliamentary process before the legal restrictions or licensing regulations can be introduced.
Original consultation
Summary
We are seeking your views on what procedures should be in scope of the licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England.
This consultation closesran atfrom
to
Consultation description
The government brought forward an amendment to the Health and Care Act 2022 which gives the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to bring into force a licensing scheme in England for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that consumers who choose to undergo a non-surgical cosmetic procedure can be confident that the treatment they receive is safe and of a high standard. Under the proposed scheme, practitioners will need to be licensed to perform specific procedures and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed.
In this consultation we are seeking your views on:
- the types of treatments that we propose are included within the licensing scheme
- whether any procedures should be carried out only either by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals or under their clinical oversight
- whether procedures permitted to be carried out only by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals should only be carried out by Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers
- whether potential age restrictions should be imposed on those receiving specified procedures, in line with age restrictions on botulinum toxin injections, cosmetic fillers, tattoos, teeth whitening and sunbed use
Documents
Share this page
SharingThe willfollowing links open the page in a new tab
Updates to this page
Published 2 September 2023
Last updated 7 August 2025
href="#full-history">+ show all updates
-
Added the government's response to the consultation.
-
First published.
Sign up for emails or print this page
Consultation description
The government brought forward an amendment to the Health and Care Act 2022 which gives the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to bring into force a licensing scheme in England for non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that consumers who choose to undergo a non-surgical cosmetic procedure can be confident that the treatment they receive is safe and of a high standard. Under the proposed scheme, practitioners will need to be licensed to perform specific procedures and the premises from which they operate will also need to be licensed.
In this consultation we are seeking your views on:
- the types of treatments that we propose are included within the licensing scheme
- whether any procedures should be carried out only either by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals or under their clinical oversight
- whether procedures permitted to be carried out only by qualified and regulated healthcare professionals should only be carried out by Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers
- whether potential age restrictions should be imposed on those receiving specified procedures, in line with age restrictions on botulinum toxin injections, cosmetic fillers, tattoos, teeth whitening and sunbed use
Documents
Share this page
SharingThe willfollowing links open the page in a new tab
Updates to this page
-
Added the government's response to the consultation.
-
First published.