Ministers have scrapped plans to introduce T-levels in hairdressing and barbering after two years of development – with proposals for a beauty therapy qualification pushed back to at least 2025.
The courses were originally due to be taught from September 2023 but were delayed to September 2024 after education secretary Gillian Keegan flagged quality concerns, saying at the time awarding organisations had “more work to do” to meet “the high-quality bar required”.
Awarding organisation NCFE was contracted to develop the hairdressing, barbering and beauty therapy T-levels in partnership with VTCT. They began developing the qualification in October 2021.
It has now emerged that the hair and barbering qualifications have been scrapped altogether.
