Patients, and a good many practitioners, assume that a clinic offering injectable treatment in London is inspected by someone. For most of the treatments on offer, nobody inspects it. The rules that do apply are scattered across a medicines regulation, a children's Act, a set of regulations defining what the Care Quality Commission registers, and a London statute about premises. They were written at different times, for different reasons, and they do not join up into one picture.
So this is the picture, assembled from the rules themselves. Each row gives a treatment or activity, the requirement as the instrument words it, the body that sets it, the exact provision, and the date the provision was read. Nothing here is our summary of what a rule probably means. Where a rule draws a line, the line is quoted.
The index
| Treatment or activity | The requirement, as published | The body that sets it | Source | Date read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic surgery, and any cosmetic procedure where an instrument or equipment is inserted into the body | Registration with the Care Quality Commission as a regulated activity. Schedule 1 paragraph 6(1) makes surgical procedures, including all pre-operative and post-operative care, a regulated activity where carried on by a health care professional for cosmetic purposes and the procedure involves the use of instruments or equipment which are inserted into the body. | Care Quality Commission, under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 | S.I. 2014/2936, Schedule 1, paragraph 6(1)(c) | 2026-11-06 |
| Dermal filler, cosmetic piercing, tattooing and electrolysis | Expressly excepted from the Care Quality Commission regulated activity above. Schedule 1 paragraph 6(4) excepts from paragraph 6(1)(c) the piercing of any part of the human body, tattooing, the subcutaneous injection of a substance or substances for the purpose of enhancing a person's appearance, and the removal of hair roots or small blemishes on the skin by the application of heat using an electric current. This is the published reason a filler clinic is not a registered CQC service. | Care Quality Commission, under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 | S.I. 2014/2936, Schedule 1, paragraph 6(4) | 2026-11-06 |
| Botulinum toxin, and any other prescription-only medicine | A prescription from an appropriate practitioner for the person being treated. Regulation 214(1) says a person may not sell or supply a prescription only medicine except in accordance with a prescription given by an appropriate practitioner. Regulation 214(2) says a person may not parenterally administer one to another person unless they are an appropriate practitioner or are acting in accordance with the directions of one. Regulation 214(3) lists the appropriate practitioners as a doctor, a dentist, a supplementary prescriber, a nurse independent prescriber and a pharmacist independent prescriber. | Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 | S.I. 2012/1916, regulation 214(1) to (3) | 2026-11-06 |
| Botulinum toxin and cosmetic filler, on anyone under 18 | Prohibited. Section 1(1) makes it an offence to administer, in England, botulinum toxin or a subcutaneous, submucous or intradermal injection of a filler for a cosmetic purpose to a person under the age of 18, punishable on summary conviction by a fine. Section 1(4) gives a defence where the defendant was a registered medical practitioner, or a regulated health professional acting in accordance with the directions of one, or had taken reasonable steps to establish the person's age and reasonably believed they were 18 or over. In force 1 October 2021. | Parliament, enforced by local weights and measures authorities under section 4 | Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021 (c. 19), section 1 | 2026-11-06 |
| Massage, manicure, acupuncture, tattooing, cosmetic piercing, chiropody, light, electric or other special treatment of a like kind, and vapour, sauna or other baths, on premises in a London borough | A special treatment licence from the borough council. Section 6(1) says no premises shall be used in the borough as an establishment for special treatment except under and in accordance with a licence granted by the borough council, and section 6(4) says a licence remains in force for 18 months or any shorter period the council specifies. Section 4 excepts premises where the special treatment is carried out by or under the supervision of a medical practitioner registered by the General Medical Council, and premises not used for gain or reward, among others. The conditions a council may attach include the qualifications of the persons giving the treatment, the safety of the equipment and the way the establishment is advertised. | The London borough council for the premises | London Local Authorities Act 1991 (c. 13), Part II, sections 4 and 6 | 2026-11-06 |
| Advertising any prescription-only medicine or prescription-only treatment to the public, botulinum toxin included | Prohibited. Regulation 284(1) says a person may not publish an advertisement that is likely to lead to the use of a prescription only medicine, subject only to the approved vaccination and pathogen campaign exceptions. CAP Code rule 12.12 states it in the same terms for marketing communications: prescription-only medicines or prescription-only medical treatments may not be advertised to the public. | Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency under the Regulations, and the Advertising Standards Authority under the CAP Code | S.I. 2012/1916, regulation 284(1), and CAP Code rule 12.12, and the CAP Code section | 2026-11-06 |
How to read it, and what it is not
An absent entry is not permission. This index records requirements it found in the published rules. A treatment that appears in no row is not thereby lawful, unregulated or safe to have done by anyone: it may be governed by something this index does not yet cover, by a professional regulator's own rules, by a borough's licence conditions, or by the terms of an insurer. The absence of a row means only that this index has no row.
It does not tell you what applies to a particular clinic. Two of the rows turn on a fact about the clinic rather than about the treatment. Whether the Care Quality Commission registers the service depends on whether an instrument or equipment is inserted into the body and on who carries the procedure out. Whether a borough licence is needed depends, among other things, on whether the special treatment is carried out by or under the supervision of a doctor registered with the General Medical Council, because the 1991 Act excepts those premises. Only the clinic and the borough can settle either, and the borough's licensing register is the public record of the second.
It is not legal advice and it is not a complete list of law. It is a reading list with the readings done. Where a cell would be a guess, it is not filled.
How it was compiled
Each row was built from the instrument's own text on legislation.gov.uk, or in the one case of the advertising rule from the Advertising Standards Authority's published code, and the provision was read in full before the row was written. The source link on every row goes to the provision, not to a summary of it, so the row can be checked in one click. Where two instruments say the same thing, as the medicines regulation and the advertising code do about prescription-only medicines, both are linked rather than one standing for the other.
Three things were deliberately left out. A requirement we could not read in a published source was not included from memory. A requirement whose wording we could read but whose scope we could not state without interpreting it was not paraphrased into something firmer than the text. And no row names, rates or ranks any clinic: this publication has no way to verify a clinic and does not try.
One correction already made in compiling it, recorded because it is the kind of mistake this format exists to prevent: the under-18 prohibition is the Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021 at chapter 19, not chapter 22. Chapter 22 of 2021 is the Financial Services Act. The row cites the Act that was read.
When it is re-read
Every row carries the date its source was read, and that date is the only claim this page makes about currency. The index is re-read in full each quarter, and sooner where a change is announced that touches a row. A row whose source has changed is rewritten from the new text and re-dated; a row whose source has been repealed is removed and said to have been removed, not quietly dropped.
The current reading is 2026-11-06. If you are reading this long after that date, check the source link on the row you care about before relying on it.