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Average Cost of Hair and Beauty Salon Insurance
The average cost of beauty salon insurance starts from roughly £470 a year for basic public/product liability and employers' liability coverage, but you may need to pay quite a bit more for salon business insurance depending on the types of coverage you want. We've gathered dozens of quotes for different insurance coverages to learn how much salon insurance typically costs in the UK.
While costs will vary depending on the insurer and the business, here's what we found to give you a general idea of costs for salon insurance in the UK. If you're also interested in learning about the cost of insurance for a self-employed hairdresser, check out our other piece of research.
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Average Cost of Salon Insurance
The average cost of business insurance for a salon starts from around £470 a year (taking into account public liability costs and employers' liability costs). However, most salons will want more than just public liability and employers' liability insurance (which is required by law for most employees even if they're temporary).
Most salons will also want to cover the contents of their salon (e.g., equipment, furniture and furnishings) and the stock they hold (e.g., beauty, hair and nail products they sell to clients) against loss, damage or theft—this can cost a few extra hundred pounds a year depending on the value of your contents and stock, of course. Below are average estimates to show how salon insurance costs vary for public liability, employers' liability, contents and stock insurance.
| Average cost of salon insurance per year | |
|---|---|
| £2m public liability and £10m employers' liability | £472 |
| £2m public liability, £10m employers' liability, £25k contents | £624 |
| £2m public liability, £10m employers' liability, £25k contents and £10k stock | £684 |
| £2m public liability, £10m employers' liability, £100k contents and £50k stock | £946 |
Cost of Tenants Improvement Coverage for a Salon
Many salon owners have invested in renovations to turn a bland commercial property into a functional and attractive space. If you lease the property that houses your salon, buy you've poured money into making the space just right, consider paying extra for tenants improvement coverage. The cost of tenants improvement coverage for a salon starts from around £270 a year assuming the renovations cost you £30,000. Improvements costing more or less would affect the premium accordingly.
Cost of Buildings Cover for a Salon
If you own the building housing your salon, you'll want to buy buildings insurance to cover loss or damage to the building—for example, to cover the cost of rebuilding it in event of a fire. The cost of buildings insurance for a salon will depend on factors like:
- Your location
- If the building is prone to flooding
- The type of building and roof
- The rebuild cost
Our sample quotations showed that buildings insurance for a salon would cost from around £800 for a building with a rebuild cost of £150,000, up to £1,800 for a rebuild cost of £500,000, or more.
| Estimated cost of building insurance for a UK salon | |
|---|---|
| £150,000 rebuild cost | £800 |
| £250,000 rebuild cost | £1,300 |
| £500,000 rebuild cost | £1,800 |
Cost of Business Interruption Insurance for a Salon
The premium a salon owner pays for business interruption insurance will start from around £200 a year (for a salon with £75k of annual turnover). Business interruption insurance covers lost revenues due to a temporary closure of your business—usually due to physical damage from fire and flood but not as a result of closures for perils like COVID-19. The cost of business interruption insurance will vary depending on factors like where you live and your turnover.
| Estimated cost of business interruption insurance for a UK salon | |
|---|---|
| £75,000 annual turnover | £205 |
| £150,000 annual turnover | £520 |
Mobile Business
Most insurers will provide coverage for a salon to carry out a portion of their business away from the main premises—as mobile salon business. Be sure to check your policy to see if this is allowed and, if so, what the limit is. For example, we've seen policies that allow up to 30% of turnover to be generated via mobile business. Those with a higher proportion of mobile business may need to declare this and pay for extra coverage.
Does it cost extra? Declaring mobile can add as little at £18 to your salon insurance premium, if that—it's usually not very expensive. Be sure that you declare the mobile work you do to get the right coverage in place. A purely mobile beauty therapist might need a different type of insurance.
Cost of Personal Accident Insurance for a Salon
Personal accident insurance for a salon will cost in the range of £280 to cover five employees. The cost of personal accident insurance depends primarily on the number of people you want covered, so you could pay more or less than this. What does it cover? If someone working for your business is injured at work and cannot work, it can pay a weekly benefit to help replace lost income. Or, for a more serious injury, it can pay a lump sum to the injured person.
Cost of Legal Expenses Insurance for a Salon
Legal expenses insurance for a salon will cost roughly £70 a year, and can provide access to an expert legal team and pay your legal defence costs in certain situations such as contract disputes, HMRC investigations, etc.
How does coverage level affect salon insurance costs?
The level of cover (that is, the policy limit) affects your premium as well for many types of salon insurance. The higher your limits, the more expensive your business insurance. While coverages like employers' liability and legal expenses typically have fixed limits (£10 million and £100,000, respectively), the following types of coverage have variable limits:
- Public liability insurance
- Stock cover
- Contents cover
- Buildings cover
- Business interruption insurance
However, while a higher limit usually costs more via a higher premium, insurance rates usually get cheaper per £1 of cover as the limit rises. For example, each additional £1 million of public liability coverage typically costs less per £1m of cover than you pay for the first £1m of cover. You can see this in the chart below, where a salon would pay an average of around £472 for £2m of public/product liability and just £556 for £5m of public/product liability coverage—getting 2.5X the coverage for 1.2X the cost.
Other factors that influence your salon insurance rate
Many additional factors can have a bearing on the amount you pay to insure your hair, beauty or nail salon. For instance, your location alone can impact prices by 20% or more. Here are some common factors that can affect your salon business rates:
- Location
- Coverage limits
- Add on coverages
- Previous claims history
- How you pay (monthly vs. annually)
- Type of services and treatments you offer
- Number of employees
- Turnover
- Value of property (e.g., building, stock, equipment, contents)
How to Save Money on Salon Insurance
There are a few steps you can take to save money on insurance for your salon business. First, as with personal insurance it is beneficial to check prices in the wider UK market because quotes can vary massively from insurer to insurer. For example, in our study the range of quotes for a salon with basic public liability and employers' liability coverage ranged from £424 to £1,124. Whether your salon is big or small, check quotes from multiple sources when you first buy a policy or when you renew.
Second, you may be able to reduce your premium by opting for a higher excess (the amount you pay towards a claim), however the discount you achieve for doing so is often quite small, and not worth it.
Another good way to save money on insurance is paying upfront for the whole year instead of paying monthly—this can save you up to 20% or more on your salon insurance costs, depending on what interest rate you're charged for financing.
Methodology
We gathered dozens of quotes for salon insurance to find out what a typical salon owner might pay for cover. We varied quotes by different factors like the level of cover and the optional add ons.
Insurance quotes can vary noticeably from business to business depending on the situation. As a result, your business insurance premium might be significantly higher or lower than the rates mentioned here. Use this information just as a rough guide to help you learn more about salon insurance costs and how different factors can affect insurance premiums in general.