Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Adverse event
- Any unexpected or unwanted occurrence linked to a treatment that harms, or could harm, a client.
- Anaphylaxis
- A severe, life-threatening allergic reaction needing immediate emergency treatment.
- Barred list
- A list kept by the Disclosure and Barring Service of people banned from working closely with children and/or adults at risk; it is a criminal offence for a barred person to do that work or for an employer to knowingly give it to them.
- Basic DBS check
- The lowest level of criminal-record check, showing only unspent convictions and conditional cautions, which anyone or any employer may request for any role.
- Botulinum toxin
- A prescription-only medicine, used to relax muscles in anti-wrinkle treatments, that may only be supplied on the instruction of an appropriate prescriber.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Central record
- The single, secure file of recruitment and pre-employment evidence kept for each worker to prove the required checks were done.
- Conditional offer
- A job offer that only becomes firm once all the required pre-employment checks have been completed satisfactorily.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- The UK law, working alongside the UK General Data Protection Regulation, that governs how organisations handle people's personal information.
- DBS Update Service
- A subscription that lets an enhanced or standard DBS certificate be kept current and re-checked online, with the person's consent, instead of repeating the whole check.
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- The public body that runs criminal-record checks and keeps the barred lists for England and Wales.
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check
- A criminal-records check showing whether a person is suitable to work with clients or vulnerable people.
- Duty of candour
- The legal duty to be open and honest with a person and their family when something goes wrong with their care.
- Energy-based device
- A piece of aesthetic equipment, such as a laser or radiofrequency machine, that uses energy to treat the skin and carries higher risk if used by an untrained operator.
- Enhanced DBS check
- A criminal-record check showing convictions and cautions plus any other information the police consider relevant, available only for eligible roles such as those involving regulated activity.
- Enhanced DBS check with barred-list check
- An enhanced criminal-record check that also confirms whether a person is on the children's and/or adults' barred list, available only for roles that are 'regulated activity' in the safeguarding sense.
- Equality Act 2010
- The law protecting people from discrimination based on characteristics such as age, disability, sex or race.
- Filtering (protected convictions and cautions)
- Rules that allow older or minor convictions and cautions to be left off a criminal-record certificate, so an employer must not ask about or rely on them.
- Fit and proper person
- A person who is of good character and has the health, qualifications, skills and experience needed for a role, with no history of serious misconduct or mismanagement.
- Fundamental standards
- The minimum standards of safety and quality below which care must never fall.
- General Dental Council (GDC)
- The body that registers and regulates dentists and other dental professionals in the United Kingdom.
- General Medical Council (GMC)
- The body that registers and regulates doctors in the United Kingdom.
- General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
- The body that registers and regulates pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting out the fundamental standards and registration duties that providers of regulated care must meet, enforced by the Care Quality Commission.
- Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006
- The law that makes employers responsible for checking that staff have the legal right to work in the United Kingdom.
- Infection prevention and control (IPC)
- The measures used to stop infection spreading between clients, staff and visitors.
- Information governance
- The framework for handling people's personal and health information legally, securely and appropriately.
- Informed consent
- Agreement to treatment given freely after the risks, benefits and alternatives have been clearly explained.
- Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP)
- A voluntary register and standard-setting body for practitioners who provide non-surgical cosmetic treatments in the United Kingdom.
- Level 7 qualification (injectables)
- An advanced, postgraduate-level qualification widely regarded as the benchmark training for practitioners giving injectable aesthetic treatments.
- Locum / agency worker
- A practitioner taken on temporarily, either directly or through a staffing agency, to do clinical work for the service.
- Nominated Individual
- The senior person responsible to the regulator for supervising how a service is provided.
- Non-medical injector
- A practitioner who gives injectable aesthetic treatments but is not a doctor, nurse, dentist or pharmacist, and so relies on a prescriber to authorise prescription-only medicines.
- Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
- The body that registers and regulates nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom.
- Occupational health
- A service that assesses whether a person is medically fit for a role and advises on any reasonable adjustments they may need.
- Police Act 1997
- The law under which standard and enhanced criminal-record certificates are issued for eligible roles.
- Prescription-only medicine (POM)
- A medicine that may lawfully be supplied only on the instruction of an appropriate prescriber.
- Professional indemnity
- Insurance or another arrangement that covers a practitioner's liability for the treatments they provide, and is a legal requirement for regulated professionals.
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
- The law that narrowed the definition of 'regulated activity' and reformed how criminal-record and barring checks operate.
- Reasonable adjustments
- Changes an employer makes so that a disabled person is not disadvantaged at work, as required by the Equality Act 2010.
- Registered Manager
- The person registered with the regulator as responsible for the day-to-day running of a service.
- Regulated activity (CQC)
- A type of care or treatment the law requires a provider to register with the Care Quality Commission to deliver.
- Regulated activity (DBS)
- A narrower safeguarding term for close work with children or adults at risk that determines eligibility for the highest level of criminal-record and barring check.
- Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
- The law that allows certain convictions to become 'spent' over time so they need not normally be disclosed, with exceptions for sensitive roles such as healthcare.
- Revalidation
- The periodic process by which a registered professional proves to their regulator that they remain up to date and fit to practise.
- Right to work
- A person's legal entitlement to do the work in the United Kingdom, shown by accepted documents or a Home Office online check.
- Risk assessment
- A structured check identifying what could cause harm and what is being done to prevent it.
- Safeguarding
- Protecting people's health, wellbeing and rights and keeping them safe from abuse, harm or neglect.
- Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
- The law that created the barred lists and defines 'regulated activity' for the purpose of barring unsuitable people from working with children or adults at risk.
- Schedule 3
- The part of the regulated activities regulations listing the specific information a provider must hold about every member of staff.
- Schedule 4
- The part of the regulated activities regulations setting out the grounds on which a director would be treated as an unfit person.
- Scope of practice
- The range of treatments and procedures a practitioner is trained, competent and authorised to carry out.
- Single assessment framework
- The structure the regulator uses to judge a service, built around quality statements and five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led).
- Spent conviction
- A past conviction that, after a set period of rehabilitation, is treated as if it never happened and need not normally be disclosed.
- Standard DBS check
- A criminal-record check showing spent and unspent convictions and cautions (subject to filtering), available only for roles listed in law such as certain healthcare posts.
- Statutory excuse
- The legal protection an employer gains against a penalty for illegal working by correctly carrying out and keeping evidence of a right-to-work check.
- Thread lift
- A cosmetic procedure that uses dissolvable threads placed under the skin to lift and support tissue, regarded as a higher-risk aesthetic treatment.
- UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- The UK's main data-protection law governing how personal information is collected and used.
- Undischarged bankrupt
- A person who has been declared bankrupt and has not yet been formally released from that status, which can legally prevent them acting as a company director.
- Whistleblowing (speaking up)
- Raising a concern about wrongdoing, risk or malpractice at work, protected by law.