Insurance question?

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Nat80

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Joined
Jan 12, 2020
Messages
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Location
Nottingham
Around 5 or 6 years ago as an employed beauty therapist I accidentally caught the edge of a woman’s tattoo whilst performing IPL. It caused blistering and a subsequent scar. She hired a lawyer and started a claim against the salon. My manager has never been very forthcoming and so never kept me up to date on the claim, but I think it must’ve gone, quite rightly, in the clients favour. Next month I am becoming a self employed therapist and I am looking at insurance. I will not be doing IPL treatments. One of the questions asked if there has ever been a claim against me for IPL treatment. My question is this...if the claim was against the salon as I was insured under them, would it count as a claim against myself that I will need to declare or would it just count as a claim against the salon? Thank you. Any advice will be most welcome.
 
As you were employed at the time, then it was a claim against the salon, not you.

However, I’d be interested in hearing what @TheDuchess thinks?
 
As you were employed at the time, then it was a claim against the salon, not you.

However, I’d be interested in hearing what @TheDuchess thinks?
Thank you for your response. It’s really helpful. I have emailed the beauty guild and hopefully they’ll get back to me. I just want to be extra careful as I don’t want anything to invalidate my insurance.
 
Hi Nat80 I used to be a commercial insurance broker specialising in professional liability, business risks and what is now called governance. I’m still a professional member of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Basically, honesty is always the best policy. Insurance companies have a database which they use to share information about claims. I would tell them, in writing, that there was this incident and you don’t know what the outcome was. If you don’t tell them, there is always the risk that they decide -in the future when you need to make a claim for something entirely unrelated to ipl - that if they’d known about the incident they wouldn’t have insured you. This allows them to declare your contract void This means that they won’t pay out for ANY claim and you basically don’t have insurance even if you’ve paid. So it’s never worth keeping quiet.

insurance is based on the principle of “utmost good faith”. It means that if you want the Insurer to pay ANY claim you must tell them everything they need to know. All insurance requires you to disclose “material facts” and a fact is “material” if it affects the judgement of the Insurer after it’s disclosed. Very often disclosure makes no difference at all when the insurance company is all keen to take your money. It’s when you want them to pay you that they get all uppity and insist that they would never have accepted the contract.

it’s no different to our industry when you ask clients about health conditions and they only tell you what they think you need to know, and then say (after there’s an issue) “well I didn’t think it made a difference”. An insurance proposal form and a consultation questionnaire cover the main points, but there’s always a requirement to mention anything relevant, and something that potentially makes a difference is relevant.

Accidents and errors of judgement happen. It’s how we learn and it was years ago. An insurance company will know that you’ll be extra careful with all of your treatments because of this experience.
 
Hi Nat80 I used to be a commercial insurance broker specialising in professional liability, business risks and what is now called governance. I’m still a professional member of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Basically, honesty is always the best policy. Insurance companies have a database which they use to share information about claims. I would tell them, in writing, that there was this incident and you don’t know what the outcome was. If you don’t tell them, there is always the risk that they decide -in the future when you need to make a claim for something entirely unrelated to ipl - that if they’d known about the incident they wouldn’t have insured you. This allows them to declare your contract void This means that they won’t pay out for ANY claim and you basically don’t have insurance even if you’ve paid. So it’s never worth keeping quiet.

insurance is based on the principle of “utmost good faith”. It means that if you want the Insurer to pay ANY claim you must tell them everything they need to know. All insurance requires you to disclose “material facts” and a fact is “material” if it affects the judgement of the Insurer after it’s disclosed. Very often disclosure makes no difference at all when the insurance company is all keen to take your money. It’s when you want them to pay you that they get all uppity and insist that they would never have accepted the contract.

it’s no different to our industry when you ask clients about health conditions and they only tell you what they think you need to know, and then say (after there’s an issue) “well I didn’t think it made a difference”. An insurance proposal form and a consultation questionnaire cover the main points, but there’s always a requirement to mention anything relevant, and something that potentially makes a difference is relevant.

Accidents and errors of judgement happen. It’s how we learn and it was years ago. An insurance company will know that you’ll be extra careful with all of your treatments because of this experience.
I really appreciate this thank you for your advice. It was in the back of my mind for a while not knowing what to do for the best. Definitely I agree it’s better to be honest and have a slightly higher premium now than it would be to be turned down for any future claims. Thank you for your time.
 
Hi everyone, I posted recently about a claim made against the salon I work at after a treatment of IPL that I did. I do not know the outcome of the claim. It was about 5 years ago. Next month I am starting a new job working self employed and am looking for insurance. I had some lovely advice on the forum recommending that I be honest about the previous claim when contacting insurance companies, even though the claim was covered by salon insurance. I have tried so far with The Beauty Guild and BABTAC and neither of them will insure me due to this previous claim. Do any of you know any insurance companies which I can try? Really appreciate any help. I've been employed for 19 years and was feeling excited about my new venture, but now I feel like the rugs been pulled out from underneath me... :-(
 
Salongold
Towergate
ABT insurance
 
I’ve used professional beauty in the past and now use super script
 
I belong to the national freelance hair and beauty federation and they have discounted ins for members, also somebody to go to for advice for self employeds 👍 good luck x
 
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I belong to the national freelance hair and beauty federation and they have discounted ins for members, also somebody to go to for advice for self employeds 👍 good luck x
thank you so much 😊
 

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