Train students on live models for beauty treatments

A course does not take your students or your training room outside the licensing rules for a treatment. The treatment you teach decides the licence you need. The medicines rules apply across the UK. Licensing and age rules differ by nation.

Licences for the treatments you teach

Nails and massage, tattooing, piercing and microblading, and Botox and fillers each have their own licence route. Follow the route for the treatments on your course.

Botox and fillers in training

A beauty trainer cannot prescribe Botox unless they are also an appropriate practitioner with prescribing rights, such as a doctor, a dentist, or a nurse or pharmacist independent prescriber. A training session needs a prescriber who prescribes for each model and directs the students who inject.

Arrange access to a prescriber before students practise fillers too. The table below lists hyaluronidase, which dissolves filler, as prescription-only.

Choosing models

The under-18 offences apply to treatment given on a course in the same way as to any other treatment in England. They cover you as the business owner as well as the person who injects.

Use models aged 18 or over. Check photo ID, such as a passport or photocard driving licence, before every session. Government guidance says it is not enough to decide that someone looks 18 or over.

Planned licensing in England

Nothing changes for your course yet. England has a licensing power and a government plan, but no rules.

Needles, insurance and consent

Plan for the safe disposal of used needles and other sharps before students inject.

Tell your insurer that students will treat live models and who supervises them. If you employ trainers or assistants, employers' liability insurance is compulsory.

You should take a signed consent form from each model before the session. Consent forms and before-and-after photographs are personal data, and some are health data.

Where to get help

Ask your council's licensing team about premises and practitioner licences. Ask Trading Standards about age checks and the under-18 offences. Ask the MHRA about prescription-only medicines.