COVERTRADE SERVICES
Barbershop Insurance
Comprehensive protection for barbershop owners, individual barbers, and mobile barbers.
Blades, Skin And Blood
Barbering works with blades against skin, which puts it in a different position from most of the hair and beauty trade. A nick from a cut-throat razor, a clipper burn, a scald from a hot towel. These are harm caused by the service itself, and public liability is not designed to answer that.
The section that responds is treatment liability, and it is the one to look for on a schedule rather than the headline public liability figure. If you offer cut-throat shaving, declare it specifically: some policies rate it separately and a few exclude it.
Behind that sits hygiene, which insurers treat as a condition rather than a recommendation, because blood-borne infection is the serious end of this trade's risk. The sections below cover that, chair renters, and the late trading most barbershops do without mentioning it.
Hygiene Is A Policy Condition
Where blades touch skin, insurers treat hygiene as a condition of cover rather than as good practice, and the reason is blood-borne infection rather than a cut that heals in a week.
What is expected is not complicated: single-use blades, tools properly disinfected between clients, a documented cleaning routine, and a clear procedure for what happens when a client is cut, including how the area is cleaned and how waste is disposed of.
Write the procedure down and make sure staff actually follow it. In a claim, the question is rarely whether an accident happened; it is whether the shop was operating to a standard it can evidence.
Chair Renters In A Barbershop
Chair rental is now the norm in a lot of shops, and it changes the insurance position for both sides in ways neither usually expects.
If you rent a chair, you are self-employed. The shop's employers' liability does not cover you and its public and treatment liability will not answer for your work. You need your own, and most shops will ask to see it.
If you own the shop, keep a current copy of every renter's certificate and diarise the expiry. When a renter injures a client, the client comes to the shop first, and your insurer will ask what checks you made. How many chairs are let also affects how your own policy is rated, so it is worth declaring rather than leaving to be discovered.
Check Your Cover
What a barbershop policy needs to say.
- Treatment liability, not just public
- Cut-throat shaving, if you offer it
- Beard tinting and any skin treatment
- Chair renters declared and certified
- Fit-out you paid for as a tenant
- Actual closing time
- Flexible payment options
- Dedicated account managers
- Out-of-hours contact should you need to make a claim or just have a question
- A quick and easy, pain-free service
- An excellent customer experience
What A Barbershop Owns
Chairs, mirrors, backwashes, clippers, trimmers and the till add up faster than most owners expect, and a modern shop usually has a good deal of glass in it as well. Set the contents figure at replacement cost rather than what you paid, and include the fit-out if you paid for it as a tenant. Landlord’s buildings cover will not extend to your shopfitting.
Two others worth having: business interruption, because a fire or a flood next door closes you for months and a barbershop’s income stops the day it shuts; and money cover, since barbering is still a substantially cash trade and the limits differ for cash on the premises, in a safe and in transit.
Late Opening And Walk-In Trade
Barbershops trade later than most retail, often to eight or nine and later at weekends, and a shop that is open when the street around it has closed carries a different profile, for the shopfront, the till and the staff locking up alone.
Declare your actual closing time. Insurers will ask about it and about how cash is handled at close, and it costs nothing to answer honestly. If staff are ever alone in the shop late, that is worth mentioning too. It is a health and safety question as much as an insurance one, and the sensible controls are cheap.
Treatment Liability, Not Just Public Liability
A client tripping over a bag is public liability. A nick from a razor, a clipper burn, a reaction to a product, or a scald from a hot towel is harm caused by the treatment itself, and public liability is not designed to answer that.
Treatment liability is the section that responds, and it is the one to look for on a schedule rather than the headline public liability figure. If you also offer beard tinting, waxing or any skin treatment, say so, because those are rated separately and are the most likely source of a reaction claim. Premiums can be paid monthly or annually.
What We Need To Quote
Annual turnover, how many barbers you employ and how many rent chairs, your opening hours, whether you offer cut-throat shaving, beard tinting, waxing or any skin treatments, the value of contents, equipment and fit-out, whether you own or rent the premises, and your claims record for the last five years.
Protect Your Business
So why wait? Protect your business today with CoverTrade's comprehensive insurance coverage. Contact us now to schedule a consultation with one of our expert advisors.
Cover that often goes with this
The gaps we most often find sitting next to this policy.
Common questions
What insurance does a barbershop need?+
Public liability for the ordinary accidents and treatment liability for harm caused by the service itself: a razor nick, a clipper burn, a reaction to a product. Employers' liability the moment you employ anyone. Contents and equipment including your fit-out if you are a tenant. Business interruption, because a closure stops your income immediately. Money cover, since barbering remains substantially a cash trade. And if barbers rent chairs, each needs their own cover.
Am I covered if I cut a client with a razor?+
That is treatment liability rather than public liability, and the distinction matters. Public liability covers accidents around the service; harm caused by the service is excluded from it. A cut from a cut-throat razor, a clipper burn or a scald from a hot towel all fall under treatment liability. If you offer cut-throat shaving specifically, declare it. Some policies rate it separately and a few exclude it.
What hygiene standards do insurers expect?+
Single-use blades, properly disinfected tools between clients, a documented cleaning routine, and a clear procedure for what happens if a client is cut, including how the area is cleaned and how waste is disposed of. Blood-borne infection is the serious end of the risk in this trade, which is why sharps disposal and disinfection are treated as conditions rather than suggestions. Keep a record of your procedure and make sure staff follow it.
Do chair renters need their own insurance?+
Yes, and both sides get caught by this. A barber renting a chair is self-employed, so your employers' liability does not cover them and your public and treatment liability will not usually answer for their work. They need their own. As the shop owner, keep a current copy of each renter's certificate and diarise the expiry, because if a renter injures a client and has no cover, the client will look to the shop.
Do I need to tell my insurer my opening hours?+
Yes. Barbershops trade later than most retail and a shop open when the surrounding street has closed carries a different profile, for the shopfront, for the till and for staff locking up. Insurers ask about closing time and about how cash is handled at close. It costs nothing to answer accurately and it is the sort of detail that gets raised if a claim happens at eight in the evening.
How much is barbershop insurance?+
Barbershop cover starts at around £250 a year, and a larger shop with staff and more chairs sits above that. What moves you within that is turnover, how many chairs and staff you have, opening hours, the value of your fit-out, and whether you offer wet shaving or skin treatments, which are rated differently from cutting alone. Call 02382 000820 and we will price yours.
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