Foot health practitioner insurance

Public liability insurance for chiropodists

In case you or your employee injure someone or damage their property.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your foot health business
• an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
• accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

For example:

• while treating a patient’s ingrown toenail, you cause an injury to the affected area
• a client slips on your treatment room floor, falling and injuring their lower back

If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business.

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)

**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

For example:

• your receptionist trips over a cable you’ve run from your treatment room to a socket, breaking her elbow
• one of the practitioners you employ scratches their hand on a tool, and the injury becomes infected

Business and office equipment insurance

In case something happens to equipment like your tablet, or your furniture.

What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

• accidental damage to your fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run your foot health business
• theft, flood, and fire damage

For example:

• your laptop and tablet are stolen during an overnight break-in
• three of your treatment chairs are badly damaged in a flood over Christmas, and need replacing

Read more about business and office equipment insurance

Tools insurance

In case your chiropody tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of your professional tools and equipment
• handheld, portable tools, including electronics
• cover for your tools in transit in any vehicle owned or leased by you, anywhere in the UK

For example:

• some new pieces of kit fall out of your bag while you’re walking to a client’s house, and are never recovered
• three new sets of instruments are damaged in a flood at your clinic, and you need to replace them

Read more about tools insurance

Stock insurance

In case the products you and your clients rely on are lost, stolen, or damaged.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

• loss, damage, or theft of the essentials you keep in stock

For example:

• you’ve just had six months-worth of stock delivered to your clinic, which gets damaged in a flood overnight
• your company van, containing essential stock, is stolen overnight – you need to replace everything ahead of a fully-booked Monday schedule

Read more about stock insurance

Legal expenses insurance

In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

• legal costs that you’re responsible for, within your business
• property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
• tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
• access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis PR support to help you protect your reputation as a popular foot health practitioner

For example:

• a neighbouring business sues you for property damage, and you need to pay legal costs
• you dismiss an employee and they raise a claim against you – you need to cover the associated legal costs

Read more about legal expenses insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or elsewhere.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

• accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• lost income, hospital bills, or other medical costs associated with the accident

For example:

• you cut your hand on a tool while working, and need hospital treatment, with two weeks off work
• your employee (who you’ve covered on the policy) injures their lower back while playing football, and needs a week off work for recovery

Read more about personal accident insurance

Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

Does chiropodist insurance cover my work correctly?

Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider acupuncture insurance or massage insurance?

Do I need cover for other types of work?

If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

• Reflexology insurance
• Physiotherapy insurance
• Reiki insurance
• Homeopathy insurance
• Complementary therapy insurance
• Nail technician insurance
• Beauty insurance
• Fitness instructor insurance

Other types of insurance

• Limited company insurance
• Self-employed insurance
• Freelance insurance
• Consultant insurance
• Contractors insurance
• Sole trader insurance

Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.