Beauty Therapist Insurance

This is a group for beauty professionals. You can join if you work as a self-employed beauty therapist, a waxing therapist, a nail technician or a massage therapist.

We don't currently have an offer for beauty therapist insurance but you can check our Hair and beauty insurance guide to learn more about small business insurance and find cover.

You can also read about the costs of public liability insurance in order to find out how much a beauty therapist insurance policy might cost you.

Who needs beauty therapist insurance?

Beauty professionals that might need beauty therapist insurance include, but are not limited to:

• mobile beauty therapists
• make-up artists
• self-employed beauty therapists
• small beauty businesses
• professionals renting a chair in a beauty salon, or working at weddings

What makes a good beauty therapist insurance policy?

A small business insurance policy for a beauty therapist should include public liability insurance and have optional add-ons for products liability, employers' liability and cover for tools and equipment.

Beauty therapist liability and products insurance is designed to cover legal costs if any of your treatments, your products or business activities harm a client or a member of the public, or damage their property. For example, if one of the skin products you use caused a reaction and the client took legal action you could use your insurance to cover your costs.

Employers' liability cover is a legal requirement if you have any employees working for you, including volunteers or people doing work experience.

Tools and equipment option might come in handy if your equipment is stolen.

Personal accident cover offers a payout if a director or employee is injured as a result of your business.

Why do beauty therapists need insurance?

The main reason beauty therapists buy insurance is to protect themselves against the financial consequences of being sued by a client for compensation if something goes wrong. Common causes of legal claims against beauty therapists include burns from hot wax treatments and allergic reactions to chemical peels or massage oils.

Public liability insurance for beauty therapists covers harm accidentally caused to a member of the public while at work. Product liability lnsurance covers harm caused by a product sold by a beauty therapist to their client.

Beauty salons will also need to consider buildings and contents insurance for their premises and stock, and employer's liability insurance if they have staff (including freelancers).

Compare beauty therapist insurance policies offered by trade bodies.

Learn more about the costs of public liability insurance.

By Ronny Lavie

Top questions answered by us

• What issues lead to legal claims against Beauty Therapists?

  Clients might develop allergic reactions to treatments, or be injured due to faulty machinery or human error during some treatments. Additionally, clients might injure themselves within the Therapist’s work premises, or be harmed by an employee.

• What specific types of insurance do Beauty Therapists need?

  There are several different types of insurance policies relevant to beauty therapists. Professional Indemnity Insurance (sometimes called PI Insurance), protects against lawsuits by clients who are hurt as a result of professional negligence or malpractice. Public Liability Insurance is needed in case a client hurts themselves on the therapist’s equipment or in his/her premises; and finally Employers Liability Insurance, to cover legal claims made by employees is a legal requirement for any beauty therapist who employs staff. Additionally, beauty therapists sometimes work abroad, and so need a policy that would cover them for work outside the UK. When the group reaches the minimum amount of members, we will endeavor to get an offer for a policy that offers as much flexibility and scope as we can find.

• What does the UK’s Beauty Therapist community look like?

  According to Habia, in 2011/12, there were 245,795 people employed in the Hair and Beauty Industry in the UK. Out of those, 57.8% were employed, and 42.2% were self-employed. The number of women in the industry is significantly larger than the men – 220,173, versus just 25,622. The dominant ages for workers in the industry are 16-24, with 31.1% and 35-44, with 29.8%.

• What treatments are not covered by Beauty Therapists insurance?

  Many policies exclude, or charge a premium for, treatments which involve the piercing of the skin (such as acupuncture and piercings for earrings), use of laser (for electrolysis or tattoo removal), and use of advance peeling, epilation or lipo.

• I like this idea, but it is not time to renew my insurance yet. Will I miss out?

  No, once we have an offer for our group members, you will be able to buy it at any time. Additionally, you can drop us an email and we will remind you when your current policy expires!