Clippers, razors and long Saturdays
Barbering involves leaning over clients and holding clippers at awkward angles for hour after hour. Neck and shoulder pain, wrist problems and lower back strain are what barbers talk about most. Straight razor work brings the risk of cuts to your own fingers.
Walk-in shops can mean twelve-hour days with few breaks. Over time that wears on your joints and energy, and a long illness can empty your diary fast.
Cash takings and your tax return
Plenty of barbershops still take a lot of cash. An insurer will only use the income you have declared to HMRC when it sets your maximum benefit and when it pays a claim. If your books show less than you really take, your cover will be smaller.
Card payments and booking apps leave a clear trail, which can make proving income easier.
- Chair renters: use your self-assessment profit figure
- Shop owners trading as a company: salary and dividends can count
- Employed barbers: payslips and P60
How insurers rate barbering
Insurers put each occupation in a risk class. Barbering is skilled work using your hands, and the class you get affects price and whether own occupation cover is offered. Own occupation pays if you cannot cut hair, rather than only when you cannot do any work.
Self-employed barbers often go for a short deferred period because they have no sick pay. If you have savings or a partner's income, a longer wait cuts the cost.
Owning the shop and taking on staff
When you move from the chair to owning the shop, your income depends on other barbers turning up as well as your own health. If you are the main draw for customers, a long absence can hit bookings across the whole shop. Key person cover pays the business a lump sum if a vital person dies or becomes seriously ill.
If you set up as a limited company, relevant life cover and executive income protection let the company pay premiums for you. This can be tax efficient, but the rules depend on your situation, so we explain the options and you decide with your accountant. Sole trader barbers can still use personal cover in the normal way.
- Key person cover for shops built around one barber
- Relevant life cover for limited company owners
- Personal income protection for sole traders and chair renters
Hi Tomorrow for barbers
We ask how you work, whether you rent a chair or run the shop, and what you take home on paper. Then we compare insurers and point out the policy wording that matters for a barber.
If you run a shop with other barbers, we can talk about business protection as well. There is no fee for advice on personal cover.