Certified genuine

Professionalism protects both the therapist and the client – Lesley Blair, Chair of BABTAC & CIBTAC, offers her advice on how to select credible training courses.

BABTAC is the UK’s leading Professional Association and has two core responsibilities; the first is to support therapists operating within the industry, which they do through membership and insurance, education and CPD, and a self-regulatory register; and the second is to assure the safety of the public by helping maintain industry professionalism.

These remits keep them abreast of the successes and key concerns within the industry, and perhaps one of the most worrying trends we have seen develop in the last eighteen months is the emergence of false qualification certificates being issued to therapists. This is not to say that therapists are lying, but in fact that they are inadvertently taking courses which make false claims about their credibility. As part of BABTAC’s remit to insure therapists and maintain a credible self-regulatory register, we check and inspect all qualification certificates. This has alerted us to a growing number of unscrupulous training providers preying on therapists with false course claims.

The beauty industry has no mandatory regulation; BABTAC operates a regulatory register but at the moment it is voluntary, not mandatory. This lack of regulation also extends to qualifications, where despite agreed national standards (the NOS) and a regulatory framework (the RQF) there is no mandatory requirement for training courses to meet them. Instead, expert individuals, colleges and schools, and even industry suppliers can create and deliver training courses and qualifications. On the one hand this supports innovation and diversity within industry, but on the other these courses aren’t externally validated for quality. This is where BABTAC comes in. We offer an external accreditation process for courses which are not formally regulated, but are still of a high standard. We assess the quality of the course – its syllabus, learning materials, learning hours and tutor quality – before awarding those which meet or exceed our standards a BABTAC accreditation or a CIBTAC endorsement. Other industry organisations have similar processes and these accreditations provide assurance to therapists that the course is of quality and insurable.

What is increasingly happening however is that some training providers are using misleading language to sell their training courses, or even worse are making entirely false claims. We’ve seen some make claims that their courses are the “same standard” as an awarding organisation, have the “official syllabus” or are “accredited”, when they aren’t. We are dealing with a case in Ireland at the moment where on average, students have paid £3,000 for a CIBTAC qualification only for it to emerge that the course is not in fact legitimate. Insurance has been voided, jobs have been lost and students now have to undertake additional training at their own expense. Earlier this year, Trading Standards prosecuted a training provider in Manchester for similar offences. A worrying trend.

So how do you select quality training courses?

Go to the source. Approach an Awarding Organisation and use their systems to select a centre nearby. All the awarding organisations – CIBTAC, VTCT, City & Guilds etc. – have a centre search on their website. BABTAC is also in the process of developing a new training website to list all courses accepted for insurance purposes.

Do your due diligence. If courses you choose make claims about their accreditation, check them out. It’s very quick and easy to make a call or check an official website.

Ask your insurer. If your course isn’t legitimate, you won’t get insurance. We keep a list of all approved courses and training providers, and will happily verify courses for members before they part with any cash.

Trust your gut. Does the deal seem too good? Is the course much shorter than others? Are they using outdated logos, accredited by lots of bodies, or evasive about specific questions?

We’re working hard to get the industry regulated to reduce or eliminate this risk, but in the meantime, be sensible. Don’t just go for the nearest or cheapest course; do your research, check with an external source and if you can, meet some current students to build your confidence.

For more information visit babtac.com