Written for owners of hair salons, barbershops, beauty, nail, lash and brow businesses, spas and massage, tanning, tattoo and piercing studios and non-surgical aesthetics clinics in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The short version
- Look after the client first.Stop the service and get them medical help if they need it. For injectables, follow your written complications protocol.
- Keep every record and call your insurer.Consultation and consent form, patch test record, batch number, photos, staff statements. Notify the insurer the same day, before you reply to the client.
- Reply without admitting or offering anything.Tell the client their claim is with your insurers. Never admit liability or offer money without the insurer's consent.
Sooner or later a client reacts to colour, is burned during a treatment, or has a complication after filler. What you do in the first hours matters more than anything you say later. An apology feels right, but you must never admit liability or offer money without your insurer's consent.
- Look after the client first.Stop the service and get her medical help if she needs it. Blanching and severe pain after filler means treating it as vascular occlusion now: call the prescriber, follow your written complications protocol with hyaluronidase prescribed for her, and call 999 if her vision changes. For anaphylaxis, call 999 and the prescriber now; adrenaline 1 mg/ml may be given by anyone in an emergency (Human Medicines Regulations 2012 Sch 19).
- Preserve the records.Keep the consultation and consent form, the patch test record, the product and batch number, photos and staff statements.
- Notify the insurer the same day.Tell your treatment risk insurer as soon as the client complains of injury, before you reply to her, and send those records.
- Reply without admitting anything.Tell the client her claim is with your insurers. Do not pay or admit anything; let the insurer decide.
- Report what you must, and what you should.Report a client taken from the salon to hospital for treatment under RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013). Regulators and insurers also expect you to report adverse incidents with injectables to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme.
- If a staff member is hurt.Report under RIDDOR if a doctor diagnoses occupational dermatitis or an injury keeps them off work for more than 7 days, and notify your employers' liability insurer now.
What the client can claim
Every treatment must be performed with reasonable care and skill, and what you told the client about the service binds you if she relied on it. Her first remedy is a redo within a reasonable time; if that is impossible or not done in time, a price reduction up to a full refund. Corrective work elsewhere, time off and distress are claimed on top, in negligence or contract. Liability for injury caused by negligence can never be excluded. As of Oct 2026.
Consumer Rights Act 2015 ss.49, 50, 55, 56, 57 and 65
Reaction claims turn on whether you did what a reasonable practitioner would: a patch test done and read, a consultation recorded, the product used to the maker's instructions. The maker's instruction for PPD hair dyes is an allergy alert test 48 hours before every colour service, and skipping or not reading it is the usual reason a reaction claim is lost. A client who skipped the check or hid a past reaction gives you a partial defence, not a full answer.
The colour refund and the injury claim are different questions, and the injury claim is the insurer's to handle. A patch test she never came back to have read weakens your defence but does not destroy it.
How long she has, and which court
In England and Wales a client has 3 years to bring a personal injury claim and 6 years for contract. Claims up to £10,000 go to the small claims track, but a personal injury claim where damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity exceed £1,000 goes to the fast track, with fixed recoverable costs. As of Oct 2026.
Limitation Act 1980 ss.5 and 11; CPR Part 26
Keep treatment and consent records as long as a claim can be brought: 3 years from treatment or from knowledge of the injury, and for under-18s, 3 years from the 18th birthday. That is why 7 to 8 years is a common insurer-led rule.
The insurance schedule is where owners get caught. Treatment risk cover lists named treatments and the qualification for each. A treatment off the schedule, done by someone without the listed qualification, or on an under-age client is uninsured, and the owner pays. Add every new treatment before its first booking.
Asked in Greymill
1. Health first: if they still have symptoms, make sure they get medical help.
2. Keep every record: consultation and consent form, patch test record, product and batch number, photos, staff statements.
3. Notify your treatment risk insurer today and send them those records.
4. Reply briefly: their claim is with your insurers.
Why not just pay half? The colour refund and the injury claim are two different questions, and the injury claim is the insurer's to handle. Never admit liability or offer money without the insurer's consent.
The unread patch test weakens your defence, but does not destroy it.
Shall I draft the insurer notification and a short reply to the client that admits nothing?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Contracts & Disputes works it through for your business.
I run a salon or beauty business in the UK. We are in [England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland]. A client [what happened, the treatment, the date and her symptoms]. I have [consultation form, patch test record, product and batch number, photos, staff statements]. She has asked for [a refund, a redo, compensation]. Give me the steps for today in order, draft my notification to the insurer and a holding reply to the client that admits nothing, and tell me which time limits apply.
More for beauty, hair and aesthetics in the UK
- Pricing a colour or treatment so it still pays after commission and VATPrice each service from product cost and the stylist's time, then check what is left of every pound once VAT, commission and product come out.Read the lesson
- December was busy, so why is there no cash in February?Voucher, course and deposit money is service you still owe, no-shows are column hours you never get back, and a 13-week cash view shows both before they bite.Read the lesson
- Rent-a-chair and VAT: could HMRC say every stylist's takings are mine?Chair rent is VAT-able, and if the salon in reality supplies the haircut, every self-employed stylist's takings count towards your VAT turnover.Read the lesson
- Adding microblading, piercing, laser or lip filler: what do I need before the first client?Every salon has safety duties, and a treatment that breaks the skin, uses a laser or involves a prescription-only medicine adds licensing, age rules and insurance duties that differ in each of the four nations.Read the lesson
- Deposits, no-show fees and course packages: what can I actually keep?Booking terms only hold if clients see them before booking, they are fair, and they respect the rules on cancellations, courses, memberships and prices.Read the lesson
- Commission-only stylists, self-employed barbers and card tips: am I breaking the law?How you pay and organise your team decides whether they are workers owed the minimum wage and holiday pay, and in Great Britain the tips law covers every tip your workers receive, card tips included.Read the lesson
- Filling the book from Instagram, reviews and rebooking without breaking the advertising rulesRebooking, reviews and social portfolios fill a salon's diary, and each comes with its own rules on photos, influencers, reviews and prescription medicines.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every beauty, hair and aesthetics lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- CRA 2015 ss.49 to 51 (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- CRA 2015 ss.54 to 56 (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- CRA 2015 ss.57 and 65 (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- Limitation Act 1980 ss.5 and 11 (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- CPR r.26.9(1)(a)(ii)(aa) to (cc) and r.26.9(4) (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- CPR Part 45 (fixed recoverable costs) (Client complaints, bad results and injuries)
- ASA rulings on filters (2021) (Client and marketing hard cases)
- ELCI Act 1969; ELCI Regulations 1998 regs 3 and 5 (Insurance and claims)
- Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 s.2(1) (employee: contract of service or apprenticeship) (Insurance and claims)
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012 reg 214 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012; MHRA classification (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- GMC cosmetic-interventions guidance para. 11: physical examination before prescribing injectable cosmetic medicines (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012 reg 284; CAP Code rule 12.12 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- CAP Code rules 12.1 and 12.12 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- HMR 2012 Sch 19 (Non-surgical aesthetics: medicines and prescribing)
- asp 13 ss.3, 4, 24(4), Sch 1 paras 4 and 12; SSI 2026/87 Sch 1 (AESTHETICS hard cases)
- Care Standards Act 2000 s.11 (AESTHETICS hard cases)
- COSHH 2002 regs 6, 7 and 11 (Health and safety)
- HSE skin at work guidance for hairdressing (Health and safety)
- UK Cosmetics Regulation Annex III, p-phenylenediamine entry (Health and safety)
- RIDDOR 2013 regs 4, 5 and 8 (Health and safety)
- BSA 2022 s.156(1) to (3) commencement for Wales, SI 2023/914 reg 3 (Health and safety)
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 art 9; Building Safety Act 2022 s.156; Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 Part 3 (Health and safety)
- UK GDPR Arts 6 and 9 (Client records, photos and data)
- UK GDPR Art 33; Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations 2018 (Client records, photos and data)
- SI 2026/954 regs. 3 and 4 and Schedule (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)