The Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners otherwise known as the JCCP, are a ‘not for profit’ organisation that was made to bring ‘self-regulation’ to the non-surgical aesthetic sector within the UK. Due to the significant rise in the number and type of non-surgical aesthetic procedures performed in the UK, the JCCP are the body ensuring quality and safety within the aesthetics industry.
The JCCP have released three new documents providing updated guidance surrounding the following areas:
Premises Standards
Good Practice Guide for Education and Training Courses
Simplified application form for Training and Education providers who wish to be approved by the JCCP.
Updated Premises Standards
The JCCP has worked with multiple stakeholders to update and revise the previous JCCP Premises Standards in preparation for the proposed licencing scheme for non-surgical cosmetics in England. The JCCP has worked alongside key clinicians and members of the JCCP Clinical Advisory Group to produce these guidelines which are also aligned to advice provided by the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health. The new Premises Standards may be viewed at: https://www.jccp.org.uk/Home/AgentResource?id=6&type=3
Education and Training standards
The JCCP continues to campaign for the implementation of a national register of approved qualifications and of approved education and training providers and believes that the PSA (The Professional Standards Authority) should be given extended powers to oversee registers of approved education and training providers and qualifications in the sector in addition to their current statutory function of overseeing practitioner registers. We are also calling upon Ofqual to be requested to ensure they only approve qualifications that meet the new Government standard for education and training for the aesthetics sector.
The JCCP’s Education and Training Committee is aware that there is considerable variation in the approach that the cosmetic industry education and training providers take to promoting courses and the type of courses they offer students. The JCCP has therefore recently produced a ‘good practice’ guide to support education and training providers in the industry and those members of the aesthetic practitioner who seek to further develop their knowledge and skills and competencies.
The JCCP has developed this guide with the full knowledge that the Department of Health and Social Care is yet to determine whether a national mandated standard for education and training should be introduced in England for those practitioners who provide the more invasive nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.
The report on the impact of body image (July, 2021) on mental and physical health recommends that there is a need for a minimum standard to be met in regard to the education and training of practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures. It is essential to ensure patient safety, and thus should be a central pillar of a future licensing regime. This recommendation correlates and affirms recommendations of a similar nature made by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing (2021) and also resonates with the principles contained in the Health and Care Act (2022) that relate to the design and implementation of a licensing scheme for the aesthetic sector in England.
This good practice guide in part supports achieving minimum standards in education and training for providers, and furthermore the competence of individuals thereof, and sets out the JCCP’s expectations regarding ethical and accurate advertising of training courses in the sector. The guide also differentiates between pre-qualifying training courses (designed for practitioners to acquire the requisite knowledge and practice competencies to perform non-surgical procedures both safely and effectively) and short courses and CPPD courses.
Application Form for JCCP Approved Education and Training Provider Status.
The final point of the JCCP updated guidance is the JCCP Education and Training Committee have reviewed and revised the JCCP Application Form for Approved Education and Training Providers.
You can find out more information on the following JCCP updated guidance areas and access the links to each document by clicking here.
As a JCCP Approved Education and Training Provider we were featured in the newsletter section around the Fast Track Assessment Centre.
JCCP Fast Track Assessment Centre
In order to ensure that those operating in the industry are more accountable to members of the public with regards their ‘fitness to practice’ the JCCP has agreed that their registered healthcare practitioners should be able to evidence their compliance with the JCCP and CPSA published standards for practice, either by undertaking a JCCP approved qualification or by attending a JCCP approved Fast Track Assessment Centre (FTA).
The JCCP agreed last year that practitioners can apply to register with Learna’s new JCCP Fast Track Assessment (FTA) which has been specifically designed for aesthetic practitioners who are seeking to register with the JCCP. The new fast track assessment centre has been developed by online learning specialists, Learna, in collaboration with the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP), and will streamline the qualifications process, enabling more cosmetic practitioners to be eligible to join the JCCP Government PSA approved register. Harley Academy and Cosmetic Courses have also been approved this year to work in association with Learna to offer JCCP Fast Track Assessment Centres. The JCCP Fast Track Assessment Centre offers practitioners an alternative to more costly and time-consuming qualifications and is the only fast track assessment course of its kind on the market that is recognised by the JCCP, resulting in the award of a formally recognised equivalent verification standard that provides unconditional access to Part One of the PSA approved JCCP Practitioner Register. Details of the JCCP/Learna Fast Track Assessment Centre process and application details may be accessed via the following link.
