Therapy insurance – Blog Post

Therapy insurance – There is always great conversation about whether therapist need to be insured to practice. The simple answer is that is that insurance is not a requirement to practice therapy.

However, I would say that anyone who is practising therapy on anybody, would be negligent if insurance wasn’t in place. We live in a world where it is extremely easy to claim against somebody, and as the saying goes “Where there is a blame, there is always a claim”.

The main problem is that a number of people don’t understand the difference between insurance company and a professional body.

An insurance company such as Towergate, Hiscocks, Westminster, Balens, to name a few, are just insurance companies. Insurance companies may not truly understand the therapy industry as they insure people from all kinds of sectors.

A professional body such as The Federation of Holistic Therapies, the Guild, the CMA, CTHA etc, are bodies which represent the industry. Now some do a great job and some maybe not such a great job (professional bodies blog post) in representing the therapy world. Most professional bodies will insist you have insurance which can be taken out under a blanket policy from the professional body. This mean that you meet certain criteria and the insurance is likely to be reduced.

The problem with this, is that you may end up then having three or four polices to cover certain therapies, thus costing you more money.   

FHT was the first professional body to insist that therapists had the required insurance to practice.

It is also worth noting, that if you have a question or an issue you can call a professional body and speak to someone who understands the industry without it effecting your policy. If you phone an insurance company with an issue you may find that your policy goes up.

To join a professional body, you are looking at about £120 a year, which will probably include insurance. For insurance alone, you might be looking at figures between £60 to £80 a year. Speaking to a solicitor about an issue could cost in the region of £250 to £280 a hour.

It is important to note the difference between the insurance companies and professional bodies, and we would always advise to join a professional body that offers you therapy insurance rather than just taking insurance alone.