What should I do to ensure everything is legal?

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Popila

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Hello ,
I will soon start a microblading training course accredited by ABT but isn’t level 4 . Will it be difficult for me to get a license or an insurance ? Are license obligatory to work as a microblading artist ?

Also in term of administration and legal what do I need to sort I want to work as a self employed beauty therapist and I will rent a chair in a salon or a small room ?

I’ve checked that I will need to register with HMRC and register as a self employed person ?

Is there anything else that I’m missing ? Also I heard that if I was the director of an LLP I could pay less tax ? Is it really beneficial at the beginning or should I wait ? Especially that I want to keep my day job (in an office )

Thanks for taking the time to reply
 
I am looking to start in a local salon so I would love to hear some pointers on this too! Good luck with everything x
 
Hi Popila, welcome.

Your questions have been asked before, very recently in other threads on this forum. Have a read through.

I don't wish to sound harsh, there's no reason you would know, but a microblading course will cover everything a qualified beauty therapist will need to know, from scratch without any prior experience, but it is very unlikely to cover everything that a non beauty professional would need to know.

A course which is level 4 equivalent but not verified as level 4 is a technical course which includes some of the technical content from a level 4 course, but doesn't necessarily cover everything. It won't be independently verified, the course designer will decide for themselves that they have reached the appropriate standard. There will be no external examiner coming in to check standards or pass students against a set criteria of knowledge and achievement. It also won't cover material that is included on a level 2 or 3 course. That would be overlap. As beauty professionals will have already covered level 2 and 3 they'll have a foundation of verified knowledge that won't be covered on any level 4 (or equivalent) course.

It's a bit like a successful baker thinking back to what they learned at college and then creating their own course distilling technical expertise without all the "boring" bits covered by a basic food handling hygiene certificate and UK regulations such as GDPR and health and safety including Council inspections. Any enthusiastic amateur will be welcome, as will private caterers and a few industry professionals who want to specialise in an area of interest after more general training. The "never been in a professional kitchen" attendee will not be disadvantaged, but in no way will their knowledge be brought up to the same standard as the other qualified and experienced professionals attending. Any inspired non professional that then decides to go pro will be expected to complete the relevant training to support that decision

There will be certificates of attendance which the professionals will keep in their file as evidence of continued professional development. Some insurance companies and professional bodies require professionals to maintain evidence that they keep themselves up to date with self study courses every year. It isn't much use without that all important foundation certificate that Independantly verifies that you are a qualified professional.

Regarding insurance, you can arrange insurance for microblading with the partner insurance scheme, atm. What about next year? What happens when the school stops trading and the scheme stops generating a constant stream of new enquiries?

Also you won't just need microblading cover and it doesn't follow that their scheme will be perfect for your requirements, there might be things you need that aren't included. Other companies may not cover you, you won't be able to shop around and It's tricky if you have several insurance policies because if you double insure, there's a problem if you need to claim for something that is covered by both policies. It's best to have one comprehensive policy.

There is also a risk that you won't be qualified sufficiently to be able to claim on their policy for everything that you need to be insured for. You'll be qualified for negligence in relation to microblading, but as your microblading qualification will not also prove you understand basic hygiene you won't be covered for bacterial infections, just injury from carrying out microblading. (It won't say this, it's kind of "obviously duh!") You won't be a beauty professional qualified to carry out microblading, you'll be a technically qualified microblader operating a beauty business specialising in microblading.

You'll need insurance for your business and you won't have an industry recognised qualification to cover you for that. ABT might have a scheme that will suit you, but if they decide in the future that they don't want to cover your school anymore, you might really struggle to find anyone else to cover you.

Unlike in the States, only some Uk Councils vet everyone setting up professionally and grants them a licence. However trading standards do carry out inspections especially for anything "cutting" the skin. In Bath, where I trade, only "piercing, electroysis and blading" require licenses. However trading standards received a complaint about a nail salon which doesn't do any of these things and they were inspected. All of the nail techs held nail certifucates but no one had a level 2 beauty therapy or nail technician qualification, they just had single certificates in gel polish, extensions, acrylic etc. The owner was prosecuted and fined heavily. The Court decided that he wasn't qualified to operate his business EVEN THOUGH IT ISNT ILLEGAL TO SET UP WITHOUT A QUALIFICATION and that's why he was fined. You see all business owners have a duty to the public to operate safely and it simply isn't reasonable to decide that you can go into business without the appropriate training.

A qualification proves that you have done everything by the book and once you hold a universally accepted qualification you are then in a much better position to decide whether you need an attendance certification only course or whether you need an Independantly verified qualification. There aren't qualifications in everything, so sometimes you have no choice, but that doesn't mean that you don't bother to get any qualifications.
 
I would highly recommend doing a level 4 qualification and if you don’t have level 2 and 3 then do them. I took this route as I felt I needed all the knowledge available to me.
Its too easy theses days for people to do a few days on a course and then start “tattooing” someone’s face!
I have also heard in some parts of the country licences are not being granted to those without a level 4, I believe 2 of the big insurers are not insuring PMU artists without it.
It would be a waste of your time and money to do a course and then find you are unable to legally practice.
 

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