Last week’s incredibly sad story about the 39 victims who died in the Essex Lorry Tragedy, some of whom were believed to have been brought in to work in Nail Bars, has once again highlighted the urgent need for regulation in the beauty industry.
This growing issue is why the Modern Slavery Act, introduced by Theresa May in 2015, was brought into being. While Anti-slavery organisations welcomed the act at the time, the sad fact remains that the number of trafficking victims is still growing and because the victims are often too frightened to come forward they are not regularly being identified. This obviously means fewer successful prosecutions under the new human trafficking legislation than expected.
Tackling exploitation of workers within the beauty industry itself is also exceptionally difficult, given the ongoing non regulation of the sector - something which The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC) have been advocating for, over many years. Without legislation in place this is sadly just one of many critical issues facing our industry.
BABTAC Chair, Lesley Blair said,
"As a not for profit organisation, BABTAC was set up to support and promote responsible therapists and businesses in our sector, while helping to protect the general public. We therefore voluntarily elected to self-regulate our own members by setting strict pre-requisites in order to qualify for insurance. However not all membership associations and insurance providers share our values. We believe the only way to ensure real change is to continue on our quest for mandatory regulation and registration of all beauty businesses, while concurrently educating consumers on the implications of them choosing to go to an unregulated salon or nail bar rather than seeking out a legitimate professional verified business. This is the very reason our ‘qualified, verified and insured’ campaign came into being and our partnership and ongoing support of Charity ‘Unseen’ was born."
For more information on all BABTAC Campaigns and Advocacy please visit our webpage: https://www.babtac.com/31-campaigning-and-advocacy