Who needs Holistic Insurance?

Holistic therapy practitioners are like every other business in that they need insurance to protect their business against unexpected losses. This is the case whether they are providing their services at their own premises, or are visiting their clients to provide their services in their clients’ homes or places of work.

There are also two types of insurance that are legally required:

Employers’ liability insurance which you must have if you employ anyone
Motor insurance if you use a vehicle anywhere that the public can access

So if you’re a holistic therapy practitioner, you need holistic insurance. But what does holistic insurance cover?

Stock & equipment insurance

You can be as careful as possible, but things will still get damaged from time to time. Accidents can be minimised but they can’t be totally prevented. And weather events such as storms and floods don’t discriminate and can happen to anyone. Similarly, you can install as much security as possible and, although that will reduce the chance of your property being stolen, it won’t completely eliminate the risk.

Stock and equipment insurance covers you for accidental damage to or theft of your business property, including business contents, fixtures and fittings, as well as your business equipment such as computers and any equipment you use to provide holistic therapies.

Liability insurance

There are a number of different types of liability insurance, but they all cover you in the event that someone makes a compensation claim against you because they allege that you’re responsible for them suffering a loss. They also cover any legal fees that are incurred as a result of the claim plus any associated expenses.

Employer’s liability insurance covers you if the compensation claim against you has been made by one of your employees. As mentioned, this type of insurance is a legal requirement if you employ anyone and there are heavy penalties for if you fail to comply.

Public liability insurance is similar to employer’s liability insurance, except that it covers you if the compensation claim against you is made by a third party. Public liability insurance usually includes products liability insurance which covers compensation claims arising from defective products that you have sold or supplied.

Liability insurance extensions

Because holistic therapy practitioners face slightly different risks to other businesses, holistic insurance contains two important cover extensions to make sure that policyholders are adequately protected.

The first of these is malpractice insurance. Standard public liability insurance does not cover compensation claims arising out of the provision of professional services, so without this extension, many claims would otherwise be excluded. Malpractice insurance covers claims made for bodily injury, mental and psychological damage from both therapies and advice given, or a combination of the two.

The second is the financial loss extension. Standard public liability insurance only covers compensation claims involving injuries or property damage. The financial loss extension extends the cover so that compensation claims that only involve purely economic losses are covered.

Legal expenses insurance

Legal expenses insurance covers unexpected legal bills arising from a range of different types of legal action. These include:

Employment tribunals
Client disputes
Disputes with neighbours
Defence against criminal charges
Tax or VAT tribunals

Personal accident insurance

Personal accident insurance protects your income if you are unable to work because you have been injured or have fallen ill. It pays a weekly benefit while you are unable to work, or a lump sum if you will be permanently incapacitated.