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As a fitness instructor, you might not be in control of your clients’ bodies, but they will nevertheless look to you for guidance, motivation and support. Sadly, if something were to go wrong, they might blame you as well.
If you work for a gym or studio, you should be covered by your company’s insurance policies. But if you are a self-employed fitness instructor, you are responsible for your own insurance and should ensure you have protection against the financial cost of claims against you or your business.
What is fitness instructor insurance?
When working with people, especially while exercising, there will always be the risk of injury. As a fitness instructor, you could be found liable if your clients are injured.
That is why it might be worth considering taking out a comprehensive fitness instructor insurance package. Not only will it cover you if one of your clients gets hurt on your watch, but it can help protect your equipment, your business premises, and even your own health.
The two main policies in a fitness instructor insurance package will typically be public liability insurance and professional indemnity insurance.
Public liability insurance for fitness instructors would cover the compensation costs and legal fees related to injury, illness or property damage caused by your business activities. For example, a client making a claim against you for a muscle they tore in one of your fitness classes.
» MORE: Public liability insurance
Professional indemnity insurance for fitness instructors, on the other hand, is designed to deal with claims of negligence or error that arise from advice you give to your clients.
An example of this could be a client falling short of their weight loss targets based on a fitness plan you created. The client may claim that your plan was inadequate and that they will incur financial loss trying to meet their targets through other means. Professional indemnity insurance would cover the costs of such a claim.
» MORE: Professional indemnity insurance
A good fitness instructor insurance plan doesn’t just stop with public liability and professional indemnity cover, however. If you have any employees who are not family members, you are legally required to take out an employers’ liability insurance policy.
Meanwhile, given the expensive equipment you may be working with as a fitness instructor, you may want to make sure you also have sports tools and equipment insurance. This will help pay to replace items, such as dumbbells and running machines, if they are accidentally damaged or stolen.
Of course, as a fitness instructor you are also at risk of injury. That is why many fitness instructor insurance packages also include personal accident cover. This means if you get hurt while on the job, you may be covered for your lost income.
Do fitness instructors need business insurance?
If you work for a gym or studio, you will likely be covered by their company insurance policies. If you are self-employed, however, you will need your own insurance.
The only form of insurance you are legally required to take out is employers’ liability insurance. The government states that you need a policy worth up to £5 million from an authorised insurer if you employ anyone who isn’t a family member. This form of insurance is designed for if an employee is injured or falls ill because of the work they do for you.
Other than that, which insurance policies you take out as a fitness instructor is down to you. But you should be aware that just because most forms of insurance aren’t required, this doesn’t mean they are not worth considering. There are several scenarios where a comprehensive fitness instructor insurance package can come to the rescue.
For example, if a client were to injure themselves during the aerobics class you run, and decided to make a claim against you, public liability insurance would cover your costs. The same is true if you visited a client at their home gym, and damaged some of their equipment.
If you were to advise your client on a course of exercise, and they then suffer an injury that prevents them from working, you may need the protection of a professional indemnity insurance policy.
Meanwhile, if your training weights were stolen from the boot of your car, or your exercise bike was damaged by an inexperienced client, sports tool and equipment insurance would help cover the costs of replacing your items.
Say you were leading a class, and ruptured a tendon in your foot that meant you could not work for the duration of the injury. Personal accident insurance would provide cover for your loss of income during that period.
What does fitness instructor insurance cover?
There isn’t one type of insurance called ‘fitness instructor insurance’. Instead, it is an umbrella term for a collection of policies best suited to personal trainers and the like.
Below, we go into which policies you can expect your fitness instructor insurance to typically include, and what it might not normally cover.
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What is usually included in fitness instructor insurance?
When searching for fitness instructor insurance, most providers will include the following policies as standard:
- public liability insurance
- professional indemnity insurance
- sports equipment insurance
- personal accident insurance
Other forms of insurance that may be useful to a fitness instructor include, but are not limited to:
- employers’ liability insurance if you are an employer
- business buildings and contents insurance if you own your business premises
- product liability insurance if you sell any goods
What isn’t usually included in fitness instructor insurance?
What your fitness instructor insurance doesn’t cover will be determined in part by what you choose to pay for.
So if you don’t include sports tools and equipment insurance, and your running machine is accidentally damaged, you won’t be able to make a claim to replace it.
It is also important to note that you may need to take out separate cover for work laptops, phones and speaker systems, as not every equipment insurance policy will include these as standard. Similarly, your sports tools and equipment insurance won’t cover damage caused by general wear and tear over time.
» MORE: Do I Need Business Insurance?
Fitness Instructor Insurance FAQs
Technically, the only form of business insurance which is legally required is employers’ liability insurance. Even then, you only need this if you employ non-family members in the UK.
However, as a fitness instructor it is worth considering:
- public liability insurance
- professional indemnity insurance
- sports tools and equipment insurance
- personal accident insurance
To work out what fitness instructor insurance you need, you should carefully assess the specific risks associated with your business and industry.
The cost of your fitness instructor insurance premium will depend on several factors, including but not limited to:
- the number of policies you decide to purchase
- the level of coverage you want from each policy
- whether you are self-employed or a limited company
- if you are a company, the number of employees you have
- the location of your business
Injuries are a common occurrence when it comes to exercise. And as a fitness instructor, you may be found liable if a client hurts themself under your watch.
Protecting yourself from the financial costs of such a claim is just one reason to take out fitness instructor insurance. You can also help protect your work equipment and potential loss of income with a comprehensive package.
While business insurance is not a legal requirement unless you have UK-based employees, online fitness instructors would still be wise to consider a fitness instructor insurance policy. This is because client injuries can still arise from sessions you lead online, leaving you just as liable for a claim to be made against you as if you were teaching in person.
If you are an employee of a gym, you should be covered by your employers’ insurance. You should make sure that you check this with your employer.
However, if you are a self-employed or freelance fitness instructor, renting space in a gym or studio, it is your responsibility to source your insurance. While the only legally required form of business insurance is employers’ liability insurance, it is still worth considering taking out a fitness instructor insurance policy for a wider range of cover.
With any public-facing job, public liability insurance can be a smart move. Especially in an industry, such as fitness, where injuries would be fairly common.
A public liability insurance policy for fitness instructors would cover you if a client, visitor or other member of the public made a claim against you for injury or property damage that occurs due to your business activities.
There are other forms of business insurance you could consider as a fitness instructor, which might not typically be included in an insurance package for your profession.
For example, if you own a gym or studio, you might consider business interruption insurance. If your gym had to close because of an unforeseen event, such as a flood or fire, that prevented clients from visiting for a significant period of time, business interruption insurance could help cover the financial losses caused by this closure.
Meanwhile, if you are a freelance fitness instructor travelling to multiple worksites (e.g. gyms, studios or client’s homes), you may find you need to take out a business car insurance policy.
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