Table of Contents
French tips, manicures and acrylics. Not the most menacing list of procedures. However, even the safest treatment can go wrong and leave you facing a costly claim against your business.
With nail technician insurance, you can protect your business ahead of time, and make sure any legal fees and compensation costs are covered in the event of a worst-case scenario.
Nail technician insurance isn’t one form of insurance but rather an umbrella term for a collection of policies applicable to your profession. This means home-based nail technician insurance may look different to nail salon insurance.
» MORE: How To Start A Beauty Business
What is nail technician insurance?
You could think of nail technician insurance as a good set of acrylics. Just as they are a hard protective layer coating your nails, nail technician insurance does the same for your business, potentially shielding you from the costs of a claim in case anything goes wrong.
Your nail technician insurance package will be made up of a selection of different policies, with public liability insurance and professional treatment liability insurance likely to be at the centre.
Public liability insurance for nail technicians is designed for times when a third party, for example one of your customers, is injured or has their property damaged due to your business activities. It might not necessarily cover your treatments, however.
This is where professional treatment liability insurance comes in. It is for if a customer falls ill or becomes injured because of a treatment you have carried out, and will cover the legal fees and compensation costs of any claim made against you or your business.
If you sell any products, even if you haven’t manufactured them yourself, you may also want to consider product liability insurance. This covers you if the product causes injury to the customer, or damages their property.
As a nail technician, your tools are your livelihood. Tools and equipment insurance can help get them replaced if they are stolen, lost or accidentally damaged.
And if you employ any non-family members based in the UK, you are legally required to take out employers’ liability insurance. You’ll need an insurance policy worth at least £5 million, and you can be fined up to £2,500 a day if you are not properly insured.
» MORE: Public liability insurance
Nail salon insurance
If you run your own nail salon, there may be some other types of insurance to consider, which wouldn’t apply to a home-based nail technician.
For example, you may want business buildings and contents insurance, to protect both the salon itself, and the fixtures and fittings inside.
Similarly, you might need stock insurance to cover items, such as polishes and powders, that are essential for you to keep in stock.
Business interruption insurance, meanwhile, can cover any lost income arising from your business premises becoming unusable – for example, due to a flood or fire.
Home-based nail technician insurance
Many of the nail salon insurance policies mentioned above may not be needed by self-employed, home-based nail technicians.
However, if you are visiting multiple locations for work, such as clients’ homes, you may need to take our business car insurance separately from your nail technician insurance policy.
» MORE: Compare business Insurance
Do nail technicians need business insurance?
Technically, there is just one form of business insurance nail technicians are legally required to get: employers’ liability insurance. And that’s only if you employ any UK-based non-family members.
Employers’ liability insurance covers the compensation costs and legal fees if an employee is injured, or falls ill, due to your business activities. For example, if they broke a toe after a heavy box fell from a shelf in the storeroom.
» MORE: Employers’ liability insurance
However, your business may be better protected if you don’t just stop there when it comes to your insurance. It isn’t a stretch to come up with several situations where you might end up relieved that you took out cover.
For example, if you spilled nail polish on your client’s designer shoes, and they decided to make a claim against you, public liability insurance would pay for the associated costs.
Or imagine a client has an allergic reaction to the nail polish remover your use – professional treatment liability insurance would cover the costs in case they made a claim against you or your business.
If a customer bought a sealed set of nail polish from your salon and it somehow managed to leak through their bag onto their car seat, product liability insurance would come to the rescue.
Nail technician insurance isn’t there solely to protect you if something goes wrong with a customer. If your UV gel light equipment was stolen from the back of your car overnight, tools and equipment insurance would cover the cost of it being replaced.
What does nail technician insurance cover?
While nail technician insurance will be informed by your specific working situation, you can expect your package to include a combination of the following:
- public liability insurance
- professional treatment liability insurance
- product liability insurance
- employers’ liability insurance
- tools and equipment insurance
What isn’t usually included in nail technician insurance?
What is and isn’t included in your nail technician insurance will be in large part determined by what you do and don’t pay for.
If you fail to include tools and equipment insurance and your equipment is accidentally damaged by an accident, like a client knocking it off the table, you would have to pay to replace it out of your pocket.
However, tools and equipment insurance likely won’t cover general wear and tear, or electrical or mechanical breakdown.
And with both tools and equipment insurance and business buildings and contents insurance, any claims related to theft may be void if you haven’t followed the correct security procedures.
How much does nail technician insurance cost?
Due to the flexibility of nail technician insurance, the cost can vary greatly from person to person and business to business. In general, the following may affect the price of your premium:
- how many policies you choose to take out
- the level of cover you want from each policy
- how many employees you have
- whether you work in a salon, are home-based, or both
- how many years of experience you have as a nail technician
- whether you are a sole trader or a limited company
How to choose the best nail technician insurance package
Depending on whether you work as a home-based nail technician without any employees, or run your own nail salon, you will have different business insurance needs.
You should assess exactly what your specific situation requires to make sure you don’t end up taking out a bunch of policies that you won’t use.
Then, once you have an idea of what you are after, you can get a nail technician insurance quote.
Nail Technician Insurance FAQs
The only form of business insurance you need as a nail technician is employers’ liability insurance, if you employ any UK-based non-family members.
However, it is also recommended that you at least consider the following:
- public liability insurance
- professional treatment liability insurance
- product liability insurance
- tools and equipment insurance
Unless you employ UK-based non-family members, you do not need insurance to be a nail technician in the UK. If you do, you are legally required to take out employers’ liability insurance.
It is still worth considering public liability insurance, professional treatment liability insurance, and product liability insurance, however, as having this additional cover in place may better protect your business.
If you do not have any UK-based non-family members under your employment, you can work on someone else’s nails without insurance.
If you drive to multiple work locations as a mobile nail technician, including customers’ homes, then you likely will need class 1 business car insurance to make sure you are properly covered on the road.
DIVE EVEN DEEPER
Construction Insurance
by Kristina Fox
Massage Therapist Insurance
by Henry Williams