Why do massage therapists need insurance?
Honest accidents
You always strive to provide a relaxing experience for your clients. However, when you set up for a corporate wellness day at your client’s office, failing to secure equipment could disrupt the peace. You may forget to fix the clamp on your adjustable therapy chair, causing someone to fall mid-massage, or knock over a dividing screen, smashing your client’s TV. Accidentally applying too much pressure could make a client’s back pain worse, leading to a compensation claim. Treating people brings certain liabilities. Including combined professional, treatment and public liability as part of your massage therapy business insurance can help.
Out of action
Sometimes accidents affect your ability to work. If you pick up a wrist injury from slipping in icy weather, a doctor may advise you to avoid placing pressure on it for several weeks. The art of massage requires careful use of your hands, so even minor injuries to the wrists, arms and shoulders can interfere with your ability to trade. Opting to include personal accident cover in your massage insurance can help protect your earnings if this happens.
Injured employee
Your spa massage centre may need masseurs to assemble massage beds and handle cleaning products. When a member of staff is unable to work due to a back injury or chemical burn they sustained on the job, they could sue over the work-related injury. Employers’ liability insurance may help to cover a range of related costs, including court attendance compensation, pay-outs and legal fees.
What cover is included in insurance for massage therapists?
Professional treatment liability insurance and public liability insurance can be helpful for massage therapists. So, we have combined them into one product – professional, treatment and public liability insurance. Though we talk about them separately below, professional, treatment and public liability insurance is a combined cover with one combined limit. You can get public liability cover as a masseuse by purchasing this combined cover. When you contact us, we can provide more information about the covers available to you.
Public liability insurance
This provides financial support if you need to defend or settle a claim levelled by a member of the public, such as a client or visitor, against your business. Self-employed massage therapists may share a space with a wide range of people, including clients, their families, personal trainers in a gym environment or beauticians in a spa. If you should spill massage oil and cause someone to slip, a claim could result. Cases can be costly – fortunately, our combined professional, treatment and public liability insurance is there to help deal with legal fees and compensation.
Personal accident insurance
Accidental injuries can’t be planned for, but in a massage business they can cause significant disruption – especially if you’re self-employed. When an unexpected incident leaves you or a named therapist that you employ unable to work, personal accident insurance helps with income loss and recruitment costs to help keep your business moving. This insurance can even help with the cost of retraining following acute or chronic injuries.
Professional treatment liability insurance
Our combined professional, treatment and public liability cover is designed to protect those who provide close-contact treatments such as massage. Adding this cover to your massage therapy insurance provides financial assistance if someone claims they’ve suffered ill effects as a result of your treatment or aftercare advice. From burning a client by heating massage stones incorrectly to facing claims based on unfeasible expectations, you’ll have the reassurance of knowing there’s financial help available.
Some massage therapists also choose cyber insurance to manage the impact of cybercrime, employers’ liability to help with staff claims and cover for their massage clinic property.
If you’re not sure what you need, tell us a little more about your massage therapy business. We’ll help you to build your quote and explore any other insurance needs.
Build my coverInsurance for massage therapists: FAQs
What insurance does a mobile massage therapist need?
In addition to insurance such as our combined professional, treatment and public liability cover, a mobile massage therapist may consider products such as portable equipment insurance.
Mobile massage therapists may stand to benefit, since kit isn’t covered by office insurance when you’re out and about. If you use a folding massage bed, a therapy chair or oil warmer on-the-go, then this type of insurance could feel like a lifeline in the event of loss, damage or theft.
How much is massage insurance?
Hiscox takes a tailored approach to building cover, so your business insurance can combine several types of policy, tailored to your massage business. What’s right for an independent massage spa may not suit a self-employed, mobile masseur, so we make it possible to build the cover you need.
This means the cost of massage insurance will depend on the type and number of insurance products you select, as well as the cover limit you set for each.
Insurance for massage therapy businesses can start from as little as £8.40 per month for singular policies with Hiscox*. For our specialist combined professional, treatment and public liability policy, costs start at £70 per month.
*Figures based on an average of all business insurance policies sold to at least 10% of our customer base between February 2024 and February 2025
Do I need to submit proof of qualification when applying for massage insurance?
We don’t ask massage practitioners to submit proof of qualification in order to get insurance.
You will need to declare that you hold the necessary qualifications to practice as part of the application process, however.
Accuracy can be important when purchasing business insurance, since deliberately giving false information may lead a policy to be voided to inception. If any of the information is not true, accurate and complete, it could affect the validity of the policy and our ability to make a claim – so if something changes, always let us know.
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