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Essential Insurance

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There are two types of insurance that every business or self-employed person really should have. The first is Employer's Liability Insurance, which protects employees and which the law says you absolutely must have if you employ staff, and the other is Public Liability cover.

Public Liability Insurance is not a legal necessity but many people believe that it should be, because it protects not only the public, by providing compensation if they are injured or lose money because of alleged negligence, but also the employers themselves, who can be sued for huge sums if something goes wrong.

Many professions now insist on it as a condition of membership, a lot of training establishments will only accept insured trainees, and many companies and public sector authorities will only deal with insured companies or individuals. Also, from a marketing point of view, properly insured businesses are usually seen as more trustworthy by their customers, whick makes those companies more likely to attract, and keep, more clients.

Is being sued a real danger for salons or self employed people?

Absolutely. The government run Compensation Recovery Unit recorded more than 72,000 claims during 2021, some of which were for just a few thousand pounds but others were well into six or even seven figures. There was not just a financial hit for the companies that were on the wrong end of a claim however; many of these claims, particularly the defended ones, could drag on for many months or even years. This not only meant legal costs were racking up, but also time which should have been spent on helping a business survive and prosper was frittered away on endless and worrying correspondence.

What risks do we run?

Reasons for claiming compensation are numerous. Tripping over a loose carpet or a stray wastepaper basket, slipping in some spilt shampoo, falling over a step et cetera are all routine complaints but hairdressers, beauticians and nail technicians, whether they work from business premises, their own homes or those of their clients, are also at great risk of having problems with customers suffering allergic reactions or infection from some of the treatments and chemicals in common usage. Cosmetic damage to a client, in particular, can be very expensive to put right even if it is possible to do so.

How can public liability cover protect me?

Depending upon the exact policy that you buy you should be covered against:

• Compensation claims from customers who allege that they have been injured, either physically or financially, because of your negligence or that of an employee;
• Cover against damage to property, such as spillage of chemicals or cosmetics onto expensive clothing, furniture or carpets;
• legal costs in settling or defending a claim. These can often be very expensive, particularly for claims for cosmetic damage, even if the claim is eventually dismissed by the court.
• NHS costs - they are expected to persue an employer for costs of ambulances, hospital stay and treatments for anyone injured on business premises, or by an employee or self employed person.

Is public liability insurance expensive?

Every business is different; you may work on your own in your own front living room, or you may have a chain of salons which are managed by others. Before calculating a premium insurers will need to know little bit about your business, and then they can work out a fair price for you.

In order to save you money, however, we do not recommend just one insurer but we put you in touch with brokers who can contact numerous specialist insurance companies, and compare their prices for you. Their aim would be not only to keep costs low for you, but also to make sure that you had enough insurance in place to cover the risks that you could be running.

Some of these brokers may be able to combine both public liability and employers liability in order to keep your costs down even further.

it only takes a couple of minutes to fill in the simple enquiry form and then an authorised broker will contact you with quotes.

Who are your brokers?

Broking groups that we deal with include:

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All of the brokers we deal with are fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. This authority has wide regulatory powers, and will only authorise companies that will comply with the higest standards of ethics and customer care.