A guide to hairdressing insurance: What you need to know

Getting hairdressing insurance should be top of a to-do list for self-employed stylists and barbers, whether you work from home, on the move, or run a salon.

Why do I need hairdressing insurance?

Trims, tousles and tapers – you’re a specialist in all things hair, and that’s why your clients come to you before thinking about going anywhere else.

So, you give top-class treatment, which also involves making sure both you and your clients are protected should anything happen.

Self-employed hairdressing insurnace can cover accidents, damage and loss – having a policy in place shows that you’re someone who takes your work, and your clients, seriously.

What can hairdressing insurance cover?

With public liability insurance, your policy can cover injury, damage or loss to a member of the public (or their property) as a result of your business activities.

If you have employees, in most cases you’re legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. This can protect against injury or loss claims from your employees.

Your policy can also protect your buildings, whether you work from home or have a separate premises, as well as your specialist tools and equipment.

You can even add cover to protect your income should a crisis hit, as well as cover for legal expenses if someone takes action against you (or you need to take action yourself).

Check out more details below.

Public liability insurance for hairdressers

You work with products that are sharp, get hot, and contain chemicals. Even if you’re the most attentive, careful stylist, it’s not hard to imagine accidents happening.

If someone got injured or their property was damaged following such an accident, you may face a hefty compensation claim if your business was found at fault.

The good news is that insurers offer between £1m and £5m public liability cover, so work out how severe a claim against you might be before getting a quote.

Employers’ liability insurance

If you have staff, even if they’re contractors, casual workers or temporary employees, you’re usually required to have employers’ liability insurance. It’s a legal obligation – if you need it, you can be fined £2,500 for each day you’re not insured.

It can cover you if one your employees becomes ill or injured as a result of your business and claims compensation.

Buildings insurance

If you run a salon, you should think about insurance for your building (if you rent, just speak to your landlord first to find out what’s already covered).

It can cover the cost of rebuilding in the event of a disaster like a fire or flood. Protection for your fixtures and fittings is included too, and you’ll want to consider combining this protection with cover for your contents and stock.

Buildings insurance can also protect you if you run your business from home.

Contents and stock insurance

Insuring what’s inside your building is just as important as insuring the building itself. Say you have a reception desk with an expensive computer in your salon – contents insurance could cover the cost of replacing them.

And if you’d suffer a serious cashflow problem if products left on your premises were lost, damaged or stolen, have a think about adding cover for stock.

Cover for your equipment and tools

Would you be able to get on with your job if anything happened to your equipment or tools? Damage or loss could make things very difficult if you and your clients rely on things like straighteners and hairdryers.

Adding cover for your equipment gives you peace of mind that if anything happened, you could quickly get back on track.

Other insurance to consider

• Many businesses struggle to operate following a crisis, and some stop trading completely. Business interruption insurance can cover loss of income, for instance if your salon was forced to shut following a flood
• If your business needs legal help at any point, legal expenses insurance could cover the steep fees
• Personal accident insurance can cover you 24/7 for accidents inside or outside of work. The money paid out can help with things like medical bills

Where can I get hairdressing insurance?

There are lots of places that offer hairdressing insurance, so a good place to start is a website that lets you compare a few quotes with minimum fuss.

With online broker Simply Business, you can do just that. They’re specialists in small business insurance, and have over 425,000 customers.

It’s easy to get a quote in minutes just by filling in a simple form. Get your details ready and check out their website today.