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Public Liability or Employers’ Liability: Which Cover Fits Your Salon?

Running a beauty salon comes with responsibilities – not just for your clients’ looks, but for their safety and your team’s wellbeing too. Beauty salon insurance helps protect against things that could go wrong, from customer injuries to treatment issues. Knowing the right type of cover could make a real difference if an incident happens.

Here, we explain the key differences between public liability, treatment risk, and employers’ liability insurance, so your salon can find cover that fits its needs.

Why Beauty Salons Need Insurance

A beauty salon is more than just scissors and skincare. Accidents can happen. A client might trip over a bag, react to a product, or an employee could get hurt while working. Without insurance, dealing with these situations can become expensive and stressful.

Arranging beauty salon insurance helps provide financial protection if a claim arises. It can cover legal costs, compensation, and more.

Understanding the Three Main Types of Cover

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance is one of the most common covers for salons. It protects against claims made by clients or visitors if:

  • Someone slips, trips or falls 
  • Property is damaged during a visit 
  • An accident happens that causes injury 

For example, a client could spill hot wax and burn themselves, or trip over a hairdryer cable.

Public liability insurance offers peace of mind for everyday salon risks.

Treatment Risk Insurance

While public liability covers general accidents, it does not always include claims linked to beauty treatments. That is where treatment risk insurance fits in. It covers the cost of claims linked to professional beauty services such as:

  • Skin reactions from facials or waxing 
  • Burns or cuts during hair colouring 
  • Nail treatment injuries 

If you provide services like massage, skincare, waxing, or advanced beauty work, treatment risk cover could be essential. It focuses on professional services and professional negligence linked to your work.

Employers’ Liability Insurance

If your salon has staff, even just one part-time employee, employers’ liability insurance may be legally required in the UK. It protects against claims made by employees if they suffer injury or illness while working.

For example:

  • A stylist injures their wrist while cutting hair 
  • An employee trips on wet floors 

Employers’ liability insurance can cover both legal fees and any compensation payouts required.

Which Cover Does Your Salon Really Need?

The right mix depends on your business setup:

  • Sole traders working alone may focus on public liability and treatment risk cover.
  • Salons with staff must consider employers’ liability insurance as a legal requirement.
  • Larger beauty salons offering complex treatments may require all three types for wider protection.

As brokers, we help arrange the amount of cover and level of cover that matches your salon’s size, services, and staff setup.

Arranging Cover Tailored to Your Salon

Each beauty salon is unique. Some focus on hair, others on skincare or advanced treatments. Stock, tools, and equipment can also add value to protect. Whether you run a small team or rent chairs to freelancers, we support clients in arranging policies that fit.

Finding the right beauty salon insurance helps ensure you can keep working confidently, knowing that if something goes wrong, you have financial protection and peace of mind.