Beauty therapist insurance protects you against treatment mistakes, product reactions, injuries and equipment loss. Find out how to decide what cover you need and how flexible finance support your insurance for full peace of mind.
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If you’re starting out as a beauty therapist, it’s never too early to think about protecting your business from potential risks and claims associated with running the company.
Understanding what insurance you may need – and how each policy will protect you – is a vital step for safeguarding the future of your enterprise.
Let’s explore what beauty therapist insurance is, why it’s so essential and how each type of insurance policy helps to reduce your risk as a therapist.
Beauty therapist insurance is a package of different insurance policies designed for the specific use of beauty salons, therapists and freelance beauticians.
As a general rule of thumb, beauty insurance will include public liability insurance, treatment risk insurance, product liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance within the broader package of cover.
The insurance package will protect you, your employees, your customers and your business from a range of different threats. This could include protection against injury, allergic reactions, loss of equipment or even property damage.
Insurance for beauty therapists will usually cover both salon-based work and mobile treatments given in a customer’s home.
Most beauty therapist insurance packages include public liability cover. Public liability insurance is needed to protect against injury or damage caused while you’re providing a service to a client. In a worst-case scenario, where a customer files a claim for damages, you have the security of knowing you’re covered, up to a certain limit, against any such claims.
In an industry where you’re offering treatments and providing third-party products to your clients, it’s sensible to have the relevant liability insurance in place.
Treatment liability insurance protects you if a treatment (like a manicure, facial treatment or eyebrow-shaping) goes wrong and injures a client. Product liability insurance covers you if a product you’ve supplied causes harm, such as burns, allergic reactions or irritation.
Most beauty insurance packages will also give you the option to add tool insurance or business contents insurance to protect equipment that’s integral to the business.
Items like laser devices, massage beds or portable equipment can all be protected against theft or damage, up to the limit of the specific policy.
The short answer is, yes! Even though you’re working from a customer’s home, you still face many of the same potential risks you would when based in a salon.
Mobile and freelance therapists have as much need for insurance coverage as salon workers. Having the proper cover is essential, so you can reduce the risk to you and your business if an accident were to happen.
It’s vital to have:
Some local councils and venues will require proof of insurance before you can offer services, so this is more than just a risk-management requirement. Having the correct insurance is mandatory if you don’t want to start losing potential business.
You might think you’re a sole trader and not a full-fledged incorporated business, but you still need to think carefully about insurance cover.
Beauty cover for self-employed beauticians and freelancers is available, with the policy tailored to the particular needs of sole-trader beauticians and therapists. Accidents with hair straighteners, or an unlucky reaction to a hair treatment, are just as likely to happen to a freelancer as they are in a professional salon.
The threat isn’t just to your clients, either. It’s sensible to have business interruption insurance and personal accident insurance in place as a sole trader. If you’re injured or unable to work, you have the security of knowing your income is protected.
Liability insurance protects you against claims made by the people you supply your services to. But there is an important distinction between public liability cover and professional indemnity cover.
Let’s look at the differences:
Most professional associations in the beauty industry will require you to have both public and professional indemnity cover to become a member and trade. Salons will also want to see evidence that you have insurance in place.
Organisations like the British Association of Beauty Therapy & Cosmetology (BABTAC) require you to be qualified before you can be insured, but also provide their own comprehensive access to beauty insurance policies.
The cost of beauty therapist insurance can vary greatly, depending on the types of insurance included in the package and the additional services and cover included.
Let’s look at a couple of examples of beauty insurance packages and how much they would cost for the average beauty therapist:
The overall monthly cost of taking out insurance will fluctuate depending on several factors. If you’re a salon with several employees, lots of equipment and based in an area with a high crime rate, your premiums will be higher than those paid by a sole trader freelance beautician living in a low-crime area.
The cost of cover may also vary depending on the types of treatment you offer to your customers. Premiums for basic beauty work, like waxing or eyebrow threading, will be lower than those for Botox injections or laser work.
The greater the risk associated with the treatments you offer, the greater the cost of the beauty insurance you’re likely to need.
Typically, a beauty insurance policy will include public liability, treatment and product liability, plus optional cover for tools, contents or business interruption. You’ll usually be able to add the most relevant cover to tailor your package and end premium.
Yes, you can get specific insurance for more advanced (and potentially dangerous) treatments. PolicyBee, for example, offers botox and dermal fillers insurance that includes medical malpractice insurance to cover against any medical damage, adverse reactions or injury caused by a dermal treatment.
If you’ve submitted a claim to your insurer, but the claim is denied, this can have a disruptive impact on your business.
You do have the option to appeal against the decision, but this will mean providing further documentation and, potentially, independent advice. Keeping detailed client consultation and patch test records, and good recordkeeping in general, will help to strengthen your case when making a claim.
Having beauty insurance in place helps to reduce risk and protect you against claims. But if an unexpected event puts you in a difficult cash flow position, it’s good to know you have access to a flexible, short-term business loan.
An iwoca Business Loan helps you access up to £1 million, in a matter of hours, giving you the extra cash you need to boost your working capital.
