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Few things are more sensitive than a person’s appearance. And as a beauty therapist, it is your job to help your clients feel like the best version of themselves.
However, working with members of the public, especially on their faces and bodies, carries inherent risks. One way to combat those risks is by taking out a comprehensive beauty therapist insurance policy.
Beauty therapist insurance is a catch-all term for several different insurance policies applicable to the industry. This would typically include public liability insurance, product liability insurance, and professional treatment liability cover.
» MORE: How to start a beauty business
What is beauty therapist insurance?
As a beauty therapist, you get up close and personal with your clients. Facials, hair removal, and even ear piercings – each a delicate process, with big risks attached if they go wrong.
We all know that accidents happen. But when those accidents are related to a person’s body and appearance, they can cause a lot of distress and upset. That is why you might want to consider taking out a beauty therapist insurance policy. Not only to protect you, your business and your employees, but to make sure your clients are looked after as well.
Most beauty therapist insurance policies will have public liability insurance and professional treatment liability insurance at their core.
Public liability insurance is designed to cover injury or property damage to clients, visitors and members of the public that has occurred during your work, which isn’t directly related to the treatments you are carrying out.
If your treatments cause injury or illness, any compensation and legal fees would be covered by your professional treatment liability insurance.
Other types of business insurance for beauty therapists
Another important element of beauty therapist insurance is product liability insurance. If you supply and sell any products – even if you didn’t originally manufacture the product – this can cover you in the event of injury, illness or property damage caused by the product itself.
If you are an employer, meanwhile, you are legally required to take out an employers’ liability insurance policy worth up to £5 million. This is unless your employees are exclusively members of your family or are based abroad. This will cover you if an employee were to suffer an injury or illness due to the work they carry out for you.
Beyond these core policies, there are some other options you might want to consider. Tool insurance can cover replacing the specialist equipment you use for your job in the event of theft or accidental damage.
If you are a salon owner, you could take out a business buildings and contents insurance policy, which will cover accidental and criminal damage costs related to both the salon building and its contents, including stock.
Meanwhile, if you are a mobile beauty therapist, you may find you need business car insurance to be properly insured on the road. And to make sure your equipment is protected, you could look into portable equipment insurance.
» MORE: Compare business insurance
What does beauty therapist insurance cover?
Beauty therapist insurance is a collection of different policies that will vary depending on your employment status. Each policy will cover the legal fees and compensation costs related to a claim.
Below, we list which types of business insurance are usually found under the beauty therapist banner, and the situations that might not be covered by your insurance.
What is usually included in beauty therapist insurance?
Beauty therapist insurance policies will usually include a combination of the following types of insurance:
- public liability insurance
- professional treatment liability insurance
- product liability insurance
- employers’ liability insurance
- tool and equipment insurance
Depending on whether you own a salon, work from home or are a mobile beauty therapist, your cover may also include:
- business buildings and contents insurance
- portable equipment insurance
What isn’t usually included in beauty therapist insurance?
What isn’t included in your beauty therapist insurance policy will be in large part informed by which types of insurance you have opted to pay for.
So, for example, if you haven’t included tool and equipment insurance, you wouldn’t be able to make a claim related to the accidental damage or theft of your equipment.
This is why it is so important to not only thoroughly check the details of the policy you are buying, but to evaluate the needs of your business before putting your package together.
There are some standard situations that your beauty therapist insurance won’t cover. Wear and tear over time likely would be covered by neither your tools and equipment policy, nor your building contents insurance.
Any claims related to theft, meanwhile, will only be successful if the proper security measures have been taken. This includes making sure your windows and doors are locked.
Which treatments are covered by beauty therapist insurance?
There is a huge array of beauty treatments covered by beauty therapist insurance. Some of these include:
- make-up
- spray tanning
- facials
- facial peels
- nail extensions and other nail treatments
- eyelash extensions
- hair removal
- bleaching
- massages
- ear piercings
- body wrapping
- electrolysis
Certain specialist treatments will require you to have at least an NVQ Level 3 in beauty treatments to be covered by your beauty therapist insurance. Some of these include:
- microblading
- dermaplaning
- semi-permanent make-up
- microdermabrasion
- electrical facial treatments and LED light therapy
Do beauty therapists need business insurance?
There is only one form of insurance legally required by beauty therapists: employers’ liability insurance. If you have even only one person working with you – and they aren’t a member of your family, or work abroad – the UK government states you need an employers’ liability insurance policy worth at least £5 million from an authorised insurer.
However, there is a big difference between what is legally required and what is professionally recommended when it comes to beauty therapist insurance.
Say a client has an allergic reaction to the make-up you have used. Or a poorly executed ear piercing causes an infection. Professional treatment liability insurance would cover their compensation costs and any legal fees that you have to pay during the claim, if it were successful.
If a client slips over and injures themselves due to the floor of your salon being wet, meanwhile, public liability insurance would cover the associated costs. It would also kick in if you accidentally spilt a tub of beauty cream onto your client’s expensive handbag and they made a claim.
Similarly, if your client takes that tub of cream home, and then comes out in a rash after its application, product liability insurance would be there if they made a claim against your business.
And it’s not just your clients you need to think of. If your electrolysis machine was damaged in an electrical fire, tools and equipment insurance would help pay for it to be replaced.
If there was a flood at your salon, business buildings and content insurance can cover the costs of repairs and replacing stock.
Or, if you are a mobile beauty therapist, and your work laptop is stolen from your car while you are inside a client’s house, portable equipment insurance would pay for you to replace it.
» MORE: Do I need business insurance?
How to choose the best beauty therapist insurance package
Your needs as a salon owner with a team of beauticians will differ from those of a mobile beauty therapist visiting clients at home.
That is why it is important to consider the risks associated not just with the beauty therapist industry, but your specific business. This will help you draw up a list of everything you would like to be covered by your beauty therapist insurance.
» MORE: Compare business insurance
Beauty Therapist Insurance FAQs
Although you are only legally required to have employers’ liability insurance if you employ non-family members, there are some other policies that beauty therapists should consider taking out. This includes, but is not limited to:
- professional treatment liability insurance
- public liability insurance
- product liability insurance
- tools and equipment insurance
To work out what beauty therapist insurance you need, you should carefully assess the specific risks associated with your business.
Accidents are inevitable. And in a line of work that involves intimately treating people’s bodies, and includes the use of a lot of specialist equipment, beauty therapists are at greater risk than you might think.
That is why beauty therapist insurance can be so important, protecting you from the financial costs of injury, illness, property damage and theft during your work.
Mobile beauty therapists need insurance just as much as their peers who work in salons. On top of the public liability, product liability and professional treatment liability policies typically provided by beauty therapist insurance, mobile beauty therapists may also want to consider portable equipment insurance and business car insurance.
While it is not legally required, it is heavily recommended that beauty therapists take out public liability insurance. Wet floors, trip hazards and other risks make client accidents a real risk for beauty therapists. Public liability insurance would cover the legal fees and compensation costs related to such a claim.
If you want to make sure you are covered for any issues arising from the treatments you offer as a beauty therapist, you should look into professional treatment liability insurance.
Broadly speaking, you would need the same insurance for a home beauty salon as you would a high-street salon. That’s public liability insurance, professional treatment liability insurance, product liability insurance, and tools and equipment insurance.
Depending on what you store in your home, you could also consider business contents insurance.
‘Beauty therapist insurance’ and ‘business insurance’ are both umbrella terms to describe the insurance policies businesses might want to consider.
But any searches for ‘business insurance’ will include all the policies beauty therapists need, alongside a lot of policies they don’t require.
So if you are looking to find out which policies apply to a beauty therapist, the term ‘beauty therapist insurance’ will help you find what you specifically need more quickly.
Yes, a beautician is also known as a beauty therapist. So, if you work as a beautician, you could consider getting beauty therapist insurance.
As well as the standard policies that fall under beauty therapist insurance, as a salon owner you may also want to consider business interruption insurance. This type of insurance deals with medium- to long-term loss of income arising from property damage or disruption.
For example, if trading at your salon is brought to a halt due to a flood, business interruption insurance can help cover your costs until the situation is remedied.
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