The International Beauty Association (IBA Accreditation)

The IBA Accreditation website, accessed at https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/ on 12 May 2026, operates under the name "International Beauty Association." The site's copyright footer reads "© 2020 International Beauty Association." No legal entity name, company number, or registered office address is disclosed anywhere on the website.

The contact page at https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/contact provides an email address and a mobile telephone number. No physical trading or registered address is published on the contact page.

The address Unit 4 Conway House, Warwick Court, Park Road, Middleton, Manchester, M24 1AE appears solely on the Directory page (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/directory) as the listed address for Holly Stott Beauty — a training provider accredited by IBA. This address is also associated with Holly Stott Beauty's contact details, telephone number, and email. The telephone number listed for IBA Accreditation on the contact page is identical to the telephone number published for Holly Stott Beauty in the Directory. No separate business address for the International Beauty Association as an accreditation body is published.

No registered company matching the name "International Beauty Association" was identified on Companies House during this review. The legal entity behind the trading names "IBA Accreditation" and "International Beauty Association" cannot be confirmed from publicly available records.

The absence of a disclosed legal entity name, company number, and business address on the website is inconsistent with the trading disclosure requirements of the Companies Act 2006, sections 1200–1206, which require the name of the legal entity behind a trading name to be disclosed on websites, in commercial correspondence, and at the place of business. Training providers and consumers are unable to identify the legal person with whom they are contracting.

Source: https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/ — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/contact — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/directory — accessed 12 May 2026; https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ — accessed 12 May 2026

IBA Accreditation sells a substantial range of commercial products through its website, including course manuals, online training courses, digital downloads, business coaching sessions, and website design services. These are clearly distinct from accreditation services and are sold directly to beauty professionals and training providers.

Products sold include: course manuals covering treatments including Botulinum Toxin, Dermal Fillers, Fat Dissolving Injections, Chemical Peels, and others (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/manuals — accessed 12 May 2026); online courses covering topics including infection control, health and safety, and anaphylactic shock (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/training — accessed 12 May 2026); and business coaching (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/coaching-1 — accessed 12 May 2026).

The About page explicitly states that accreditation applicants "will have the choice to either provide us with your own Training Manuals and lesson plans to be verified; or you, as a Member of IBA can purchase ours for your use." This creates a commercial incentive for IBA, as accreditor, to recommend its own paid manuals to training providers seeking accreditation. The IBA is therefore simultaneously the seller of training materials and the body that assesses and accredits those same materials.

This dual role — selling course content and accrediting it — is a significant conflict of interest. It means that IBA's commercial interest in manual sales is not independent of its accreditation function.

Source: https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/manuals — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/training — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/coaching-1 — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/about — accessed 12 May 2026

IBA Accreditation has a declared commercial relationship with multiple insurance providers, identified on the About page (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/about — accessed 12 May 2026) as BGI(UK), InSync Insurance, Westminster Insurance, Policy Bee, and Tower Gate. The About page states: "We are the first of our kind to be partnered with BGI(UK), InSync and Westminster Insurance, Policy Bee and Tower Gate."
Critically, accreditation is conditional upon the accredited training provider referring their learners to one of these partner insurance companies. The About page states: "You need to make sure that you are referring all your learners to one of these insurance companies." A referral link to InSync Insurance appears directly on the About page.
This means that IBA's accreditation conditions require accredited providers to direct learner business to IBA's commercial insurance partners. Whether IBA receives referral fees, commission, or other financial benefit from these partner insurers is not disclosed on the website. The nature of these partnerships — described as IBA being "backed by" five insurance companies — and the fact that insurance referral is a stated condition of accreditation rather than an optional additional service, raises material concerns about undisclosed financial relationships and the independence of the accreditation function.
The Facebook page for the International Beauty Association (https://www.facebook.com/internationalbeautyassociationuk/ — accessed 12 May 2026) lists insurance referrals as one of the core activities of the organisation alongside accreditation, manuals, and coaching.
Source: https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/about — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.facebook.com/internationalbeautyassociationuk/ — accessed 12 May 2026

The International Beauty Association was founded by Holly Stott, who is also the owner and principal of Holly Stott Cosmetology Clinic and Beauty School (trading as Holly Stott Beauty), Unit 4 Conway House, Warwick Court, Park Road, Middleton, Manchester, M24 1AE. This is confirmed by multiple sources accessed during this review.

The coaching page of the IBA Accreditation website (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/coaching-1 — accessed 12 May 2026) states, in the first person: "I, Holly Stott have been in the Beauty Business now for seven years... In 2019 I launched the International Beauty Association Accreditation Group." Holly Stott's LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-stott-a588a7127/ — accessed 12 May 2026) lists her as "Founder of the Holly Stott Beauty Clinic & School" and at "The International Beauty Association," with both websites (hollystottbeauty.com and ibaaccreditation.com) listed together. The same individual is therefore the founder and operator of both the accreditation body and the accredited training school.

The Directory page of the IBA Accreditation website (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/directory — accessed 12 May 2026) lists Holly Stott Beauty as the first entry, with identical contact details to those published on the IBA contact page: telephone and address Unit 4 Conway House, Warwick Court, Park Road, Middleton, Manchester, M24 1AE. The Holly Stott Beauty website (https://www.hollystottbeauty.com/courses — accessed via search results 12 May 2026) states that the Holly Stott Make Up & Beauty Academy is "Fully Accredited with the International Beauty Association" and that "All courses are fully accredited with IBA."

Holly Stott's blog post on the IBA Accreditation website (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/post/how-rude-let-me-introduce-myself — accessed 12 May 2026) states: "At the very end of 2019, I created the International Beauty Association which is an Accreditation Company." This establishes beyond doubt that the same person founded, owns, and operates both the accreditation body and the accredited training school.

This represents a direct structural conflict of interest. The individual responsible for accreditation decisions also has a direct commercial interest in the accreditation status of her own training school. An accreditation body is required to operate independently of the training providers whose courses it accredits. Where the same person controls both the accreditor and the accredited provider, no such independence exists.

A further material concern arises for third-party training providers who submit course materials to IBA for assessment. Where the operator of the accreditation body is simultaneously operating a competing training school in the same sector, submitted course materials may be at risk of inappropriate disclosure or use.

Source: https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/coaching-1 — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/directory — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/post/how-rude-let-me-introduce-myself — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.linkedin.com/in/holly-stott-a588a7127/ — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.hollystottbeauty.com/courses — accessed 12 May 2026

The IBA Accreditation website uses qualification-level terminology throughout its website and accreditation materials in a manner that risks conflating CPD accreditation with Ofqual-regulated qualifications.

The About page (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/about — accessed 12 May 2026) states: "we not only provide you with the Level 3 Beauty/Coaching Educator Award IBA Diploma and Accredit your courses." The accreditation product page for The Anatomy Accreditation Package (https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/product-page/the-anatomy-accreditation-package — accessed 12 May 2026) refers to "the Level 3 Anatomy & Physiology Course" and states this earns "an extra IBA Diploma." The website's manuals page lists products including a "Level 3 Anatomy & Physiology Manual" (referenced on the product page).

IBA acknowledges on the About page: "IBA is NOT Ofqual Regulated and have NEVER claimed to be." However, this statement is in tension with the organisation's use of "Level 3," "Diploma," and "Award" terminology throughout its website. These terms are closely associated with the Ofqual Regulated Qualifications Framework in the minds of consumers, employers, and professional bodies. A CPD accreditation body that awards its own "Level 3 Diploma" or "Level 3 Award" without Ofqual recognition is using regulatory-adjacent language that may mislead consumers into believing they are obtaining a qualification with formal national recognition.

The About page further states: "It may be that learners need Ofqual Regulated courses first before they can go on to do IBA continuous professional development courses," which, while acknowledging the distinction, is buried within application conditions rather than presented as prominent consumer guidance.

The use of "Level 2–7" language in the statement "We are looking forward to creating the Level 2 – 7 Courses and getting them Ofqual Regulated in the future once we are ready" implies that current Level-referenced IBA courses are not Ofqual regulated, while framing future Ofqual regulation as an aspiration. This framing does not adequately signal to consumers that current "Level 3" IBA courses are CPD accreditation only and carry no regulatory standing equivalent to Ofqual-recognised qualifications.

Source: https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/about — accessed 12 May 2026; https://www.ibaaccreditation.com/product-page/the-anatomy-accreditation-package — accessed 12 May 2026