Massage therapy is performed to reduce stress, chronic tension and ultimately pain for your clients. While that all sounds like a dream, the reality is you will be working on the human body and even when you strive to do your best, there is always the potential for something to go wrong. In addition, several different factors could make your business liable for damages or even leave you forking out for expenses.
Therefore, all massage therapists whether they are self-employed or own a business should have insurance cover. Although researching insurance isn’t the reason you got into business in the first place, getting covered will ensure you can continue to trade in the likely event that you will need to make a claim at some stage.
According to research by insurance comparison website NimbleFins, over 16,000 professionals work as massage therapists in the UK. Here is an overview of what insurance for massage therapists entails, including why it’s so important.
Is Insurance Necessary For A Massage Therapist To Work In The UK?
All massage therapists should have the relevant insurance regardless if they work in the UK, on a cruise ship or in any other country. The simple fact is that the cost of insurance is often a tiny fraction of the cover that the policy will provide.
Without insurance, not only could you be breaking the law, but if you were required to pay for legal fees or damages, this could leave your business in financial ruin.
What Does Massage Insurance Cover?
The main type of insurance associated with massage therapists is known as treatment insurance. It has similar principles to professional indemnity insurance which offers cover in the event you make a mistake in your work or offer the wrong advice. The main difference is that treatment insurance is designed for more holistic professions such as massage or beauty therapy.
The cover may also be known simply as massage insurance cover, which includes various types of insurance cover within one policy. In either case, insurance cover for massage therapists should protect against:
- Injury to a client or damage to their property
- Equipment cover
Remember, cover for your treatments does not extend to protect your employees, vehicles, premises, etc. So you may need to take our separate insurance, especially where public liability or vehicle insurance is concerned.
What Insurance Does A Massage Therapist Need UK?
When considering what insurance you need as a massage therapist, you need to view your business as a whole entity, rather than focusing solely on the actual treatments you give. That’s because you may also need to claim expenses for legal services or the loss of stock among many other reasons – such reasons may be totally unforeseen.
Aspects to consider for insurance cover include:
- Treatments given
- Ability to work
- Any employees
- Location
- Equipment
- Vehicle insurance
- Cybersecurity
- General legal costs
Treatments Given
From Swedish massage to aromatherapy-based treatments – there are endless different types of massage, pressure options and possible tools you may use to get the job done.
Ideally, every massage will start with a consultation with your client, to ascertain which area of the body is causing them the most discomfort, so that you can understand how to tailor the treatment to be of the most benefit to them.
Given treatments are the core of your business, it’s essential you have cover should the session result in injury to your client, or a worsening of their symptoms. Otherwise, the consequences could be hugely damaging to your reputation and ultimately your business.
Ability To Work
As a massage therapist, your work relies not only on the use of your hands but the general flexibility of your whole body. If you were to break your arm or injure your back, you will likely have to cancel your clients until you recover. In the meantime, personal accident insurance can provide funds for a massage therapist who becomes too injured to work due to an accident.
Any Employees
If you employ anybody else such as additional therapists or even a receptionist, then employers’ liability insurance is required by law.
Location
Some massage therapists work in a specific location, and others have a mobile business. Public liability insurance is essential for any business that interacts with the public either on their own property or on somebody else’s. It will protect you against injury to your client or damage to their property as a result of your services.
Consider also talking out building insurance if you own the location from which you trade from. Or if you rent a space, your landlord should have commercial landlord building insurance in place.
Equipment
Most massage therapists require specialist treatment beds, air purifiers, sound systems, oils, towels and similar paraphernalia to do their jobs. Consider the cost to your business if your more valuable equipment was stolen or damaged, especially if this meant you were unable to continue your treatments until the items were replaced.
Contents insurance offers a sensible solution in case your equipment was stolen or damaged beyond repair.
Vehicle Insurance
Mobile massage therapists will use their vehicle for business use, and so will need to state this on their insurance policy. Also consider that massage beds may require a commercial vehicle to transport, in which case the vehicle would require commercial vehicle insurance.
Cyber Security
Now we’re living in the age of GDPR, your customers expect that their data which will likely include their name, date of birth, address, passwords and possible medical information will be kept secure. If your system was to be hacked and such sensitive information got into the wrong hands, you could be liable for damages.
General Legal Costs
Businesses of all kinds including massage venues may require legal services, which can be covered in advance through insurance. Examples of why you may need legal cover include if defamatory content was written about your business online, or if a competitor set up a company using your name or logo. Likewise, a member of the public may falsely claim they were injured on your property, meaning you’d need a legal team to present the evidence and fight your case.
To Sum Up
So that you can focus on removing those pesky knots on your clients rather than damages brought against your business, you should consider all relevant insurance policies for your massage services.
The main policies to look out for include treatment insurance, public liability insurance, employers’ liability insurance, vehicle insurance and buildings and contents insurance.
For something that takes only a small amount of time and money to set up, insurance for your massage therapy business will offer peace of mind. It will also mean you can focus solely on giving your clients the best possible experience, rather than worrying about potential legal fees.
