Buttock enlargement using injected filler, commonly known as a liquid BBL, would be restricted to doctors under government proposals for England. The treatment uses dermal filler rather than surgically transferring a person’s own fat. Department of Health and Social Care (source, opens in new tab)
Department of Health and Social CareRestrictions on the performance of high-risk cosmetic and wellbeing procedures in England: consultation documentOpen source (opens in new tab) GOV.UK (source, opens in new tab)GOV.UKCosmetic cowboys crackdown continues with new restrictionsOpen source (opens in new tab)
The proposed restriction would extend to filler injections anywhere outside the face. These procedures would be legally classified as cosmetic surgery: although they use injections, that classification would place them in the category reserved for doctors.
The measures are proposals, not rules already in force. The Department of Health and Social Care opened its consultation on 21 October 2026, with responses invited until 13 January 2027. Further policy work and parliamentary steps would be needed before the restrictions could take effect.
A different rule would apply to specified high-risk procedures classified as non-surgical. These could be performed by doctors and dentists, as well as nurses, midwives and pharmacists qualified to prescribe medicines independently. That broader permission would not extend to liquid BBLs or other non-facial filler injections.
The framework would also regulate the providers offering these treatments. They would have to register with the Care Quality Commission, England’s health and social care regulator. This would add regulatory oversight alongside the restrictions on who could perform a procedure.
The specified treatments would generally be prohibited for under-18s, with exceptions including NHS treatment and treatment for a medical condition. Certain breaches of the proposed rules could attract criminal enforcement, including unlimited fines or fixed penalties, depending on the offence.
The proposals target specified high-risk treatments, rather than every cosmetic procedure. But the government acknowledges that it has limited data on how many businesses offer these treatments and how many procedures they perform. That leaves uncertainty about the scale of the sector the new controls would cover in practice.
- Department of Health and Social Care · Regulatory recordRestrictions on the performance of high-risk cosmetic and wellbeing procedures in England: consultation documentgov.uk · opens in new tab
- GOV.UK · InstitutionCosmetic cowboys crackdown continues with new restrictionsgov.uk · opens in new tab
