Babtac speaks out against Habia’s professional registers

Industry body Babtac has expressed concerns about  the new professional industry registers set to be launched by Habia this weekend at Professional Beauty North, labelling them “effectively worthless”.

Habia, which announced the initial plans for its registers at the beginning of the year, said the registers will accredit beauty, spa and nails professionals, providing regulation and increase consumer confidence in the industry.

However, Babtac said that they are simply a money-making scheme, which could open Habia up to accusations of bias in its main role as a standards-setting body.

Babtac argued that the checks carried out by Habia for the registers do not match those carried out by other major membership organisations, including itself, and therefore add nothing to the industry.

Kelly Ramsay, Babtac’s marketing manager, said, “Unfortunately, the registers have left too many stones unturned and we are advising our members to avoid paying the additional fees for little or no gain.”

Babtac’s chair Carolyne Cross added, “As the longest established membership organisation in the UK, we have spent 36 years campaigning for standards and checking the quality of the members. We have a responsibility to investigate these matters and advise our members accordingly. At this stage, we feel the registers lack any credibility.”

Habia has since responded, refuting the suggestions, and saying that it was “disappointed” with the public objection. In a statement issue by Habia, the association said that Babtac had been approached to discuss registration for its members, but made no response.

“Entry level criteria has been developed by bringing together established industry experts representing employers, manufacturers and educators. This group has also had representation from the former Director of Operations at Babtac. We welcome this input and look forward to it continuing going forward,” the statement read.

“Where trade associations and membership bodies have joining requirements that meet or exceed our minimum entry level criteria, then we are very open to speaking with them to facilitate their members joining the register automatically.”