Course accreditation and insurance-help

[kirk25]

Hi have been working for a long time towards opening a training academy and we are almost there, last staff finishing her PETTLS end of month.
We have been researching all over and writing course materiel and I been swaying to ABT to accredit my courses, however...

I was on the phone to my insurance company this morning with a query about a different matter and we got onto the subject of my training academy.....
The insurance company told me that they could insure my students on completion of there training and i can quote them and send the students straight to them and they will give them insurance....
.
I was under the impression courses had to be accredited to obtain insurance but if my own insurance company are offering to do this at no extra cost would i be mad not to??

I will add I want to do things the right way but I thought accreditation was only way to obtain insurance

 

[The Guild]

Some insurance companies require you to accredit courses, others don't.

Those that do ask for it are unlikely to be able to accept your certificates if you have not had them accredited with that company. It is worth remembering that each accreditation is only valid with that company. For example, Guild accreditation means your certificates can be accepted by the Guild, but it does not mean that other insurers will accept them.

 

[Baggybear]

I am not sure of the answer to your question but thought I might throw up the thought that if you didn't get accredited and sent your students to your insurance company then your students would not have the ability to chose who to get insurance with, this might cause an issue for some.

 

[kirk25]

So if I'm honest on my literature then I can say I can put you in touch with an insurer as they guarantee to insure you after this course?

Oh my I thought I got it now it seems all complicated again!

Thanks for replies x

 

[The Guild]

You can only guarantee a student will get insurance if your courses have been accredited by that insurance company.

If you want to talk through what Guild accreditation involves, feel free to call Thereasa on 0845 2177 386.

 

[hippy-chick]

When I go on a course I always look to see who the course is accreditted with, I wouldnt go on a course that didn't hold accreditation and would have no interest in being put in touch with your insurers as I already hold my own insurance.

If you do go through accreditation then you can display this on all of your training literature.

 

[Kim Lawless]

It is worth remembering that each accreditation is only valid with that company. For example, Guild accreditation means your certificates can be accepted by the Guild, but it does not mean that other insurers will accept them.

That isn't correct. Most insurance companies will accept courses accredited by a reputable insurer/organisation; it's only The Guild that won't accept courses accredited by other companies (unless you've changed your policy recently).

For example, BABTAC will accept your courses but you won't accept theirs.

 

[fozzyo]

Accreditation shows quality of training and course. Guild and BABTAC are the two main insurers and so I think that having both is the best option.

 

[kirk25]

Whilst I value all the feedback here on Salon Geek, my quest to find the right direction in which to take my academy forward is partially hampered by reality!

The reality that I am coming to understand, is without malice to any individual or body of accreditation, that they pretty much are of no great importance in the grand scheme of things. They in fact are nothing more than a money making idea's.

There is to my knowledge no authentic governing body that oversee's the correct & fair practice in the beauty industry. If there is, then that would be the only legitimate accreditation of beuaty.

In my opinion the validity of a therapist or beautician would indeed be in the form of the individuals own pursuance of excellence, & not the piece of paper that say's they can.

The end result is to obtain adequate insurance to provide the service, in truth Insurance company's largely are quite happy to take you at face value, as like the Guild's & accredit ors they simply want your money , Doug


Above is my hubbys opinion in his own typed words! ( he is a normally silent partner in our business lol) My head is spinning x

 

[kirk25]

Accreditation shows quality of training and course. Guild and BABTAC are the two main insurers and so I think that having both is the best option.

(a) The best option to what end?

(b) Am I to understand that both the Guild & BABTAC that you refer to are indeed an "Insurance" company? or accredit ors of quality of service?

Doug again lol

 

[perfect10kb]

Doug I completely understand where you are coming from

We run training courses and these are RECOGNISED by two 'insurance ' companies at present . This enables our students to gain their insurance once qualified

I have to post here as I get so cross at the way so many people get duped into a certain way of thinking due mostly to marketing hype .

Both the insurance companies we are recognised with required all manner of paperwork/evidence from us such as our manuals , exam papers , our teacher certificates ect ect before they accepted our courses.

What they did not do however was try and charge us a ridiculous amount of money in order for our courses to be 'accredited ' by them .

They ensured that our courses met a required level but they did not then try and and take more money out of us on top of that for the privilege

We are quite happy that our courses are on a par with any that are 'accredited' whatever that is supposed to mean .and yes Doug you are right . They are a fair few places that act both as accreditor AND insurance company ..... Go figure .

Does that make them more respectable ?

 

[kirk25]

Doug I completely understand where you are coming from

We run training courses and these are RECOGNISED by two 'insurance ' companies at present . This enables our students to gain their insurance once qualified

I have to post here as I get so cross at the way so many people get duped into a certain way of thinking due mostly to marketing hype .

Both the insurance companies we are recognised with required all manner of paperwork/evidence from us such as our manuals , exam papers , our teacher certificates ect ect before they accepted our courses.

What they did not do however was try and charge us a ridiculous amount of money in order for our courses to be 'accredited ' by them .

They ensured that our courses met a required level but they did not then try and and take more money out of us on top of that for the privilege

We are quite happy that our courses are on a par with any that are 'accredited' whatever that is supposed to mean .and yes Doug you are right . They are a fair few places that act both as accreditor AND insurance company ..... Go figure .

Does that make them more respectable ?

Thank you for both understanding the meaning behind my original post, & for sharing with us the truth behind the Myth regarding accreditation.

I can elaborate my understanding by simply this, We are considering sending our therapists on an advanced waxing course. It is our opinion that Kim Lawless is one of the market leaders in this field of expertise. Our choice for selecting Kim is for the KUDOS of having our girls trained by the best in our pursuance of excellence. We have not however selected her because she is accredited & that itself has little or no meaning to us.

It is my personal opinion that accreditations are not particularly worth the paper they are written on, they hold no legitimate weight as there is no governing body to authenticate their worth, they are simply disguised insurance company's charging more than others for exactly the same service.

Doug

 

[fozzyo]

They are also a way of showing the training course meets a certain standard - knowing that it will cover required A&P. And most importantly knowing that if someone made an insurance claim against you the insurer would cover it. Isn't that rather important?

BABTAC and the Guild are both associations doing their own thing - BABTAC are actually lobbying for regulation of the industry. So by doing this they are hardly a waste of time. HABIA Is the government recognised standards body, and you can be accreditted by them.

I am a freelance trainer for the Axiom Wax Academy. How does a student know that my training is the best you can get? It is the only course accredited by Guild, BABTAC and HABIA. Even if they don't know the reputation of Andy (who runs it and sets the standards by which I train) they can see that the course complies with the latest standards and practices. And most importantly can be comfortable in knowing that insurers will back them up.

Accreditation isn't cheap (its not £50) but it is by no means massively expensive ... a couple of courses and all the setup costs are covered.

Sometimes are just have to play by the rules of the game, we may not like or agree with them but we need to follow them in order to build our businesses.

 

[fozzyo]

BABTAC and Guild, just like ABT and all the other insurance providers tend to be brokers. Just like H&L Balen for example, but they also provide other services.

 

[sjmand]

That isn't correct. Most insurance companies will accept courses accredited by a reputable insurer/organisation; it's only The Guild that won't accept courses accredited by other companies (unless you've changed your policy recently).

For example, BABTAC will accept your courses but you won't accept theirs.

I never realised this that's a bit naughty if that's the case :0

 

[Kim Lawless]

Thank you for both understanding the meaning behind my original post, & for sharing with us the truth behind the Myth regarding accreditation.

I can elaborate my understanding by simply this, We are considering sending our therapists on an advanced waxing course. It is our opinion that Kim Lawless is one of the market leaders in this field of expertise. Our choice for selecting Kim is for the KUDOS of having our girls trained by the best in our pursuance of excellence. We have not however selected her because she is accredited & that itself has little or no meaning to us.

It is my personal opinion that accreditations are not particularly worth the paper they are written on, they hold no legitimate weight as there is no governing body to authenticate their worth, they are simply disguised insurance company's charging more than others for exactly the same service.

Doug

Hi Doug! I'm nearly choking reading this thread as it's a subject that I feel very strongly about.

My courses are no different now to what they were before they were accredited. I felt under pressure from students who would ask who my courses were accredited by and that is the only reason that I had them accredited.

The reason that I chose BABTAC was because they are genuine, passionate about standards and nice people to deal with. They were very thorough when considering my courses and didn't just accept them without clarification on a number of points. However, another reason that I chose them was because back then it was a one off payment (think it was about £550 for all my courses but not sure), whereas other companies had an annual payment on top of the initial outlay. This did later change but I refused to pay it as that wasn't what I signed up for.

I've had a few companies offer to accredit my courses for free so that I would send my students to them for insurance. I declined their offer. A lot of the larger companies in the beauty business don't pay for their courses to be accredited for that very reason.

I do agree that they are all just insurance companies, so why do we need accreditation, especially when beauty isn't regulated in the UK?

It's like HABIA. We should all be working to high standards but why do we need to pay to say that we do.

As you know, I have students come to train with me from all over the UK, Europe and abroad (4 from Brazil in the last 6 months alone). Not one person EVER has had trouble getting insured aside after my training…….that is unless they are insured with a certain company here in the UK. Why? Because they only insure courses that have been accredited by them. So that means that if you're insured with them, you will only get covered if every single course that you do is accredited by them. So for example, you do nails, tanning, lashes, waxing etc etc……….every company that you train with will have to have had their courses accredited by the one company or you might as well not bother doing the course as you'll be throwing your money down the drain. Oddly though, when I've trained people that are associated with big name companies, they haven't been turned away by them, only the small guys.

Worse still, just because a person does the PTTLS course (which you can also do via the insurance company) and pays to have their courses accredited, they are free to set up their own training business five minutes after training themselves. Crazy!

 

[Kim Lawless]

would have no interest in being put in touch with your insurers as I already hold my own insurance.

I

I didn't know that you could do that! Which company Ann? That sounds like a great idea.

 

[Kim Lawless]

How does a student know that my training is the best you can get? It is the only course accredited by Guild, BABTAC and HABIA.

This isn't personal to you Mat but anyone can have their courses accredited by those mentioned if they want to pay the money.

What makes your training 'the best you can get'? Was it any less good before you had your courses accredited?

The point is that all or most beauty courses are accredited, including the rubbish ones like the hair extension course that I read about where the woman did a runner and she hardly turned up to do the training………so that proves the OP's point.

There are many many amazing trainers out there in every field of beauty, but accreditation didn't make them brilliant…………they did that all by themselves.

I don't know what the answer is though as one needs to get insured.

 

[fozzyo]

That's a fair point.

Maybe we need tighter restrictions on standards

 

[kirk25]

That's a fair point.

Maybe we need tighter restrictions on standards

I agree for the benefit of the industry as a whole, tighter restrictions would be good, but again only so if it were regulated by a "Legitimate" governing body.

Doug