Public liability insurance for hair and beauty

In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your hair and beauty business
• an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
• accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

For example:

• a client suffers an allergic reaction to a hair dye you’ve used, and makes a claim against you
• a maintenance professional slips on your salon floor before you’ve had a chance to clean it, injuring their lower back

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• an employee claims she suffered from frequent migraines as a result of her working conditions with you, and sues for damages
• your trainee nail technician slips on the busy salon floor, breaking their arm

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to equipment like your tablet, or your furniture.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• accidental damage to your fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run your hair and beauty business
• theft, flood, and fire damage

For example:

• there’s a break-in at your premises, and your laptop and bookings tablet are stolen, as well as the phone you use for work
• your furniture is badly damaged after a pipe bursts overnight, and needs to be replaced

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your hair and beauty tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your hair and beauty tools and equipment
• handheld, portable tools, including electronics
• cover for your tools in transit in any vehicle owned or leased by you, anywhere in the UK

For example:

• your kit is stolen from your car while you’re at a motorway services
• an employee leaves their bag of styling equipment in a coffee shop, and it’s never recovered

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case the products you and your clients rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of the essentials you keep in stock, like makeup products

For example:

• you’ve just had all your new wedding season stock delivered to your premises, which gets stolen while you’re unboxing
• someone breaks into your salon and vandalises your stock, which needs replacing before your fully-booked weekend schedule

Read more about stock insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs while running your business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs that you’re responsible for, within your business
• property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
• tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
• access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis PR support to help you protect your reputation as a popular hair and beauty professional

For example:

• HMRC begin a randomised investigation into your tax affairs, and you need to cover the costs
• an employee sues you for unfair dismissal and you need to pay for legal representation

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• lost income, hospital bills, or other medical costs associated with the accident

For example:

• you slip on some water that’s spilled from a basin and break your wrist
• your employee (who you’ve covered on the policy) breaks their ankle while running at the weekend

Read more about personal accident insurance

Building insurance

In case something happens to your business or salon premises.

What’s typically covered by building insurance?

• the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
• damage to fixtures and fittings
• damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for

For example:

• you need to replace your salon’s wooden floor after flooding
• someone graffitis your building, and you need to repair the damage ahead of a new product launch

What you’ll need additional cover for

• tenants’ improvements – changes to the property’s structure which you’ve organised and paid for yourself, like partition walls or wooden flooring

Read more about buildings insurance

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does hair and beauty insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider mobile beauty insurance or hairdressing insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Hair salon insurance
• Barber insurance
• Mobile hairdresser insurance
• Beauty salon insurance
• Beauty therapist insurance
• Nail technician insurance
• Makeup artist insurance
• Public liability insurance beauty

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.