KEEP BOTOX, FILLER & LASER AFFORDABLE
PROTECT PRACTITIONER LIVELIHOODS AND THE PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO CHOOSE

WHY THIS PETITION EXISTS
The Independent Aesthetic Practitioners Register (IAP) is speaking on behalf of both practitioners and the public to protect access to aesthetic treatments and the livelihoods of those who provide them.

Independent practitioners make up approximately 60% of the UK aesthetics sector. Many work full time in aesthetics, have trained for years, and operate compliant small businesses embedded in their local communities.

Some pharmaceutical-linked organisations are seeking to restrict many non-surgical cosmetic aesthetic treatments so they can be carried out only by nurses and doctors.

If adopted, this approach would:

• Remove large numbers of experienced independent practitioners from the sector
• Cause many practitioners to lose their livelihoods, business premises, and financial security
• Create strong incentives for nurses and doctors to leave NHS roles or expand part-time aesthetic work, worsening staffing pressures
• Concentrate market control within a small group able to run parallel private practices, effectively creating an aesthetics monopoly

NHS WORKFORCE IMPACT
Restricting the sector in this way risks accelerating the movement of nurses and doctors out of frontline NHS roles and into private aesthetics, either full time or as a substantial sideline.
This would further strain an already stretched health service while doing nothing to address access or affordability for the public.

 
WHY THIS MATTERS TO THE PUBLIC
If the present direction continues, it will:

• Reduce public choice and local access to treatment
• Drive prices sharply upwards, with treatment costs likely to double or triple
• Force clients to travel further, breaking long-standing practitioner–client relationships
• Make previously affordable treatments inaccessible to many people
• Push services away from local high streets and community-based settings
• Risk replacing a transparent, accountable market with informal or unregulated provision

CALL TO ACTION
Take action now:

Sign, support, and share this petition

PUBLIC EVIDENCE FORM
If you are a member of the public who values affordable aesthetic treatments and choice of practitioner, please complete this form. Your responses help demonstrate how these proposals affect cost, access, travel distance, and continuity of care.
👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScl2PqwZhIVLaPYytTie68YZT1E1YQAR2nmAYjBjCoeH3KLAA/viewform?usp=dialog

PRACTITIONER EVIDENCE FORM
If you are a practitioner, please complete this form to explain how the proposed restrictions would affect your ability to work, your income, your business viability, and your clients. Practitioner evidence is essential to counter claims made without proper sector representation.
👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhghLYuvBOfBml2bq3UM1ohCmLX6kdmH3cdUsQNaViYDdZ9w/viewform

Support the IAP’s legal and public-interest work
https://gofund.me/bae45c2d

 
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
The UK aesthetics sector includes:

• Independent practitioners who work full time in aesthetics, often after years of training and experience, operating compliant small businesses
• Medical professionals who provide aesthetic treatments alongside other employment, frequently on a part-time basis
• Alongside statutory regulators, several voluntary registers and professional bodies operate in this space. These organisations have no legal regulatory authority, yet they increasingly influence policy discussions, enforcement approaches, and public messaging
• Concerns arise where organisations with commercial relationships and pharmaceutical company links appear to shape regulation in ways that favour narrow groups while excluding the majority of practitioners.

 
KEY CONCERNS SUPPORTED BY AVAILABLE EVIDENCE
Published board minutes, financial accounts, and Freedom of Information disclosures demonstrate material unresolved concerns, including:

• Whether policy advice has been shaped by bodies with commercial interests in narrowing market access
• Whether consultation processes adequately represented those most affected
• Whether legal risks linked to the UK Internal Market Act and the Fairer Scotland Duty have been properly addressed
• Whether known enforcement and implementation problems have been resolved before progressing legislation
• Proceeding without resolving these issues risks long-term harm to practitioners, the public, and local economies.

EQUALITY, COMPETITION, AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST
This sector is overwhelmingly female-led and dominated by small, self-employed businesses.

Any framework that removes the ability of these practitioners to trade, without clear evidence of necessity or proportionality, raises serious equality and competition concerns.

Public safety is best protected by assessing competence, training, and standards by procedure, rather than relying on professional title alone. 

WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR
We call for:

• An independent review of potential conflicts of interest influencing policy development
• A competition assessment examining market impact and practitioner exclusion
• Transparent publication of equality and socio-economic impact assessments
• A regulatory approach based on competence and outcomes rather than labels

TAKE ACTION NOW
Sign the petition.
Submit evidence using the appropriate form above.
Support the IAP’s legal and public-interest work if you are able.

Early decisions will shape access, affordability, and choice across the UK. Action now matters.