These days, offering thorough and reputable training to your students is not always enough. If you want your qualification to be recognised throughout the beauty industry, then you need to consider beauty therapy course accreditation.
You can apply to have your courses accredited by most of the major insurance companies and beauty authorities, including Associated Beauty Therapists (ABT), BABTAC, the Federation Of Holistic Therapists (FHT), the Guild of Beauty Therapists, HABIA and Professional Beauty Direct. Having your courses accredited shows that they reach particular standards and that your students will be able to obtain insurance cover for that treatment.
What does accreditation mean?
Accreditation means that your course content has been checked and meets the standards of the awarding body. In the case of the insurance companies, it means they know any student who has completed your course can be considered low risk in relation to making a claim.
Is one accreditation enough?
Technically, yes. It is perfectly acceptable to only apply for accreditation from one company. However, because each provider has different criteria, it may mean that other companies will not accept your certificates for their insurance. This is why some training schools choose to apply for accreditation from multiple companies.
What do the accreditation companies check?
This really does vary from one company to the next. Some will simply check your basic details, others want to look at your course manuals and qualifications and a few will want to check details about your facilities.
Will it cost me anything?
They say there is no such thing as a free lunch and it is true. The process of accrediting a school, particularly one with a lot of courses, is a lengthy one and so there is a charge for doing this. Most accreditations also include some form of advertising and so this also adds to the cost. Some will charge a set fee per school whilst others will have different fees depending on the number of courses you submit. You will be looking at paying several hundred pounds per company.
In most cases the accreditation fee is an annual thing and so you should be prepared to pay to renew these each year. You may also be charged to add any new courses and some companies are now aiming to include a charge for each certificate you issue with their logo on.
What if I don’t get accredited?
There is nothing to say that you have to go through the accreditation process, however, the lack of an accreditation stamp may de-value your qualifications when your students discover that they cannot get insurance with it.
Accreditation can be a costly process, so make sure you invest some time talking to each company to decide which ones, if any, you want to go with.