Professional indemnity insurance for personal trainers
You work hard to build your business, only to be taken down by a lawsuit. It’s one of the biggest risks, and potentially a big mistake not to buy the best personal training insurance you can afford.
Our guide to insurance for personal trainers
Why do personal trainers need insurance?
Your clients depend on you to keep them in good shape. But what happens if they push too hard, become careless and then get injured while training with you? Who’s responsible, and who will foot the bill?
A client walks away from a session with you where you told them exactly how to exercise but they take it too far in their own time. You might think that’s nothing to do with you. However, it’s not always as straightforward if the client claims it was a result of your guidance that they suffered an injury. The next thing you know a letter comes in through the post demanding compensation.
Your reputation is on the line. As a personal trainer you are helping your clients to fulfil certain aspirations - it could be a body image or achieving certain results in the next Iron Man. Your client may turn to you for answers if they don’t get the desired outcome. The fact that they deviated from your advice is often irrelevant when they start bad mouthing you in front of your other clients or online.
And there are accidents. As a personal trainer you might be conducting sessions in a gym, or a park, possibly at the client’s premises. When you’re hosting a session, in other words when the client comes to you to train, you’ll need to make sure the space is suitable and safe. Despite these precautions a fall or trip might happen and you want to have a peace of mind in the form of the right insurance if the situation turns against you. The same goes for an accidental damage to the equipment used or clients’ property. Perhaps they asked you to video them during a workout and you dropped their expensive phone.
Professional indemnity insurance for personal trainers
The statistics show that public liability insurance is searched about 10 times more than professional indemnity insurance (PI) and yet PI is an essential legal cover for any self employed professional who provides advice and guidance to their clients.
Professional indemnity provides cover against issues such as an accusation of negligence, breach of duty of care or making a mistake. These are the common risks personal trainers face daily when working with clients. These issues are not unfortunate accidents but rather situations when your professional ability is called into question.
Ryan, a personal trainer on a contract with a large gym, found himself accused of incompetence. An inexperienced client decided to do an exercise improperly and injured himself. Since Ryan was working for himself the client sued Ryan’s business for damages, alleging Ryan didn’t provide adequate instruction before his accident occurred. Luckily on the gym’s insistence Ryan had professional indemnity in place and his insurance provider paid all of Ryan’s legal fees and the legal team successfully defended him against the claim.
Suited professional insurance includes an extension - business legal expenses - that covers other situations. Fees associated with resolving a negative PR threatening your business, unpaid invoices, tax disputes and more.
Public liability insurance for trainers
Personal trainers often search for public liability insurance, believing it’s the only legal cover they need. It is certainly an important cover and essential to anyone who has regular face to face contact with their clients and the public while running a business.
The scenarios here aren’t hard to imagine. Clients tripping over the mat and rolling over on their ankle, a member of the public getting accidentally hit by a ball, a client breaking gym equipment while training with you. The list could go on.
Business legal expenses extension
Suited also provides an invaluable legal cover extension with its professional indemnity cover to take care of other scenarios a self employed professional might face while running a business.
The good news is that Business Legal Protect is included as standard with the PI cover, nothing extra to pay. It can provide you with legal and professional help with situations like unpaid invoices, tax disputes, threats to your professional reputation or contractual disputes.
Common Questions
Do personal trainers need qualifications?
During a claim situation you’ll need to demonstrate that you’re suitably qualified to carry out work as a personal trainer.
What is the experience needed to be a personal trainer?
If you’re freshly qualified and you’ve never done personal training before, it might be advisable to get some experience first before setting up your own business.
Can I be a personal trainer without insurance?
Legally yes, practically you’ll probably find that's not possible. Gyms and other training facilities will want you to have at least public liability insurance in place.
If I ask another trainer to take my client, will the session be covered by my Suited insurance?
Yes but you should always ensure the trainer is suitably experienced or qualified and you never waive your legal rights against them.
Covers we offer
Suited small business owner and freelancer insurance starts with professional indemnity. It’s our core cover. With that you can also get public liability and a couple of other helpful insurance add-ons for a solid protection of your business.
Recent articles
What does ‘hibernate’ mean in professional indemnity insurance?
Imagine you’ve just delivered the last piece of work for your client and plan to take some time off, perhaps for good. Cancelling your professional indemnity cover is an option but not a very good one. The work you did in the past may still catch up with you in the future and since professional indemnity insurance (PI) works on a ‘claims made basis’, you won’t be able to access its benefits unless you have an active PI cover in place.
What is a retroactive date in professional indemnity insurance?
A retroactive date is a line in the sand which determines a specific point in the past from which your insurers have agreed to insure your business. You are effectively allowed by some insurers to backdate your professional indemnity (PI) cover so that your business is protected against possible claims as a result of your past work.
Is professional indemnity insurance the same as public liability insurance?
In short, no. It isn’t. Professional indemnity and public liability insurance are both legal covers, meaning you’re protecting yourself and your business against legal threats from clients and third parties. However, there are subtle differences and whether you need one, the other or both does depend on your business activities.
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