What Personal Trainer Insurance Do I Need?

Whether you’re already a personal trainer or are thinking of becoming one, personal trainer insurance is essential. But with so many different providers and policies out there, it can be hard to know where to start! 

That’s why we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to personal training insurance in the UK, covering:

• Do You Need Insurance To Be A Personal Trainer?
• The Basic Personal Training Insurance Every PT Needs
• Additional Personal Training Business Insurance You Should Have
• Do Personal Trainers Need Employer’s Liability Insurance?
• How Much Is Personal Training Insurance?
• Personal Training Insurance Compared

Before we begin, why not expand the services your personal trainer business offers, starting with our Level 4 Sports Nutrition. Browse the full range of fitness courses we offer by downloading our free prospectus here and get in touch with our team today!

Do You Need Insurance To Be A Personal Trainer?

If you’re reading this article, we bet you’ll simply want to know whether you really need insurance as a personal trainer. 

The short answer is, yes! 

Whether you are working as a freelance personal trainer, have your own personal training business or are employed as a PT by a gym, being insured is a legal requirement.

While you want to make money as a personal trainer with plenty of clients, it's just like any other profession - things can go wrong, even if you’ve been a personal trainer for years! Having personal trainer insurance will give you financial protection if this does occur. 

The 3 main things personal trainer insurance cover are:

Injury or illness to your clients. Personal trainer insurance protects you in the event that a client makes a claim against you. This could be a claim of:

• Injury
• Illness
• Harassment
• Professional negligence

If any of these things happen under your supervision during a session, they may claim compensation against you. Having personal training insurance will protect you from having to pay this compensation.

Injury or illness to you. Personal trainer insurance can also protect YOU in the event of injury or illness. It will cover you financially if you are unable to work, or pay for treatment or healthcare. Without the right personal trainer coverage, you could therefore find yourself in a difficult financial situation.

Your employees. If you have your own personal training business and employ staff, having personal trainer business insurance will cover you in the event that they are injured or fall ill whilst working for you.

Your equipment and property. As well as you and your clients, personal trainer insurance can also cover your equipment in the case of damage, theft and loss. This can also extend to cover any property you own as part of your PT business, such as a studio or gym.

As well as the financial and legal reasons, getting personal trainer insurance will also give you confidence and peace of mind that you, your clients and your employees are protected. 

With this in mind, there are 2 main types of insurance that are legally required to work as a personal trainer:

• Personal trainer public liability insurance
• Personal trainer professional indemnity insurance          

There are also additional types of insurance that we would recommend getting, such as:

• Personal accident insurance
• Loss of earnings insurance
• Equipment insurance
• Insurance for working with special populations

We will outline exactly what each of these types of insurances cover in the next section of this article!

Do you need personal trainer insurance if you work in a gym?

You may assume that if you work for a gym, you do not need to take out your own personal trainer insurance. However, this is not always the case.

If you get a job as a personal trainer in the gym, make sure that you check with your employer whether you are insured as part of your contract. Even if you do come under their insurance policy, you should then check exactly what you are covered for.

You should also note that even if you train most of your clients inside the gym, but just train one client outside or in another gym, you may not be covered for any incidents that happen outside of the gym’s premises. 

Plus, most gyms hire personal trainers on a freelance basis. If you are a freelance personal trainer, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have your own personal training insurance. 

Many gyms will specify the need for your own personal trainer insurance in the job description, such as the adverts below for freelance personal trainer/group fitness instructor in a gym:

With this in mind, you should take out insurance as a personal trainer, even if you are employed by a gym. 

Do you need personal training insurance to teach group fitness classes?

If you are a personal trainer who also teaches group fitness classes, you will still need personal trainer insurance. 

This is because just like when you are training clients one-on-one, accidents and injuries can happen. However, you will just need to make sure that your policy covers you for this. 

Most personal trainer insurance coverage will include the majority of mainstream classes such as Zumba, Spin and Les Mills classes. 

You will normally find a list of the classes covered in the terms of your personal trainer insurance policy, so you should make sure to check that the specific type of class you teach is covered. 

For example, this personal trainer business insurance from Protectivity has a list of the types of activities their policy covers, under the FAQ section of their website:

Plus, many gyms will require that you already have your own personal trainer insurance coverage to teach exercise classes for them, such as the job advert below:

So if you are thinking about becoming a group fitness instructor, having your own personal training insurance is not only important to protect you and your students, but may also be required when applying for jobs. 

Do you need online personal trainer insurance?

If you are an online personal trainer, you will still need to take out personal trainer insurance. 

However, you may need to find a specific online personal trainer insurance, or make sure that your personal trainer insurance policy covers you for training clients online. 

Many personal trainer insurance policies do not include online personal training simply because you have less control over what your client is doing, compared to face-to-face sessions. 

For example, when training a client online through Zoom, you can only give verbal or visual instructions on how to do an exercise. Since you are not physically present with the client, you cannot make physical adjustments to their form, or spot them like you would in a gym. 

If they then injure themselves during an online session, they could then make a claim against you that their injury is a result of your advice. But with the right online personal trainer insurance, you would be covered in a case like this.

That said, with the rise in popularity of online personal training, many insurance companies do cover online sessions in their policies, such as UK Coaching:

However, most policies such as this one will have terms and conditions that you must meet, in order to be covered by their online personal insurance:

Again, this information is usually found under the FAQs section of an insurance company’s website, or should be in the terms of your policy agreement. 

Do you need personal trainer insurance to work abroad?

If you’re thinking about operating as a personal trainer abroad- whether online or face-to-face, you should make sure that your personal trainer insurance coverage includes this. 

Most personal trainer insurance in the UK will not cover you unless you are working in the UK, or are a UK resident. 

For example, Insure4Sport’s personal trainer insurance policy does not cover you if you are not a UK resident:

However, some insurance companies will cover you for working abroad as long as you specify this when you take out a policy. Many companies, such as the one below, will offer an additional type of insurance for personal trainers working abroad, that you can add on to your existing policy.

As with any insurance for personal training, you should always read the small print to make sure that you are covered for the exact nature of your PT business.

Enjoying this article so far? Here’s 3 more we think you’ll love:

• How To Make Money As A Personal Trainer
• Personal Trainer Marketing Strategies and Tips
• Starting A Personal Training Business Checklist (UK)

The Basic Personal Training Insurance Every PT Needs

As we have said, there are two types of personal trainer insurance which are legal requirements if you want to work as a PT- and we will explain exactly what they cover below. 

Personal trainer public liability insurance explained

The first and arguably most important type of personal trainer insurance you will need is personal trainer public liability insurance. This is the minimum legal requirement needed to operate as a personal trainer.

You may also see it called ‘personal trainer liability insurance’ or ‘professional liability insurance for personal trainers’. 

This essentially covers you as a personal trainer for claims made against you, such as:

• Injury to a client under your supervision
• Damage to equipment owned by the gym you are operating in
• Equipment failure resulting in injury to the client

Having personal trainer public liability insurance covers the cost of replacing or fixing equipment, or legal costs if a client makes a claim against you. 

For example, say you are training a client in a gym and your client uses a squat machine incorrectly, causing the barbell to fall on them and injure them. 

The client could then make a compensation claim against you, since the injury occured when they were under your supervision.

Whilst it is certainly part of your role as a personal trainer to make sure that your clients perform exercises correctly and safely, sometimes accidents occur that aren’t your fault.  

In this case, without public liability insurance, you would be liable to pay out the cost of the claim from your own pocket. However, if you have public liability insurance, you will be covered for an event like this.

What is covered in AXA’s personal trainer public liability insurance gives a good indication of the types of things you can expect to be covered:

So, whilst you may not like to think about it, accidents and injuries are very common in personal training, even for the most experienced of PTs. 

Personal trainer professional indemnity insurance explained

The next type of insurance you will legally need is personal trainer professional indemnity insurance. 

Where public liability insurance covers you for claims to do with physical incidents that cause injury, this covers you if a client feels that you have given them incorrect or bad advice which has caused them injury or illness. 

Since a huge part of being a PT is to advise and guide clients, this is therefore an essential type of personal trainer business insurance to have!

Some examples of the kinds of claims a client could make against a personal trainer are:

• Incorrect guidance on how to do an exercise
• A client doesn’t achieve their goals based on advice you have given them
• Inaccurate nutritional advice that has lead to illness or health problems

This information from Hiscox’s gives a further indication of the types of things you can expect to be covered in a personal trainer professional indemnity policy:

Just like accidents and injuries, you may like to think that you would never give inaccurate advice to your clients. But again, even the most experienced of PTs can make mistakes and can have claims made against them. 

Having professional indemnity insurance as a personal trainer will therefore give you peace of mind that you will be covered should anything happen to a client based on advice you have given them. 

Additional Personal Training Business Insurance You Should Have

So far we have discussed the two types of personal trainer insurance that you are required to have by law to operate as a PT. 

However, there are some other types of insurance that we would strongly recommend getting too. Whilst they aren’t required by law, they are hugely beneficial to have. 

Personal Accident Insurance for Personal Trainers 

As well as covering your clients, don’t forget that you can get injured or ill too! 

This is where personal accident insurance comes in. This insurance for personal trainers covers you in the event that you are injured or ill whilst working.

This could be anything from a minor injury to more serious accidents that cause longer-term or even permanent damage.

Personal accident insurance will cover the cost of your injury treatment and rehabilitation, both short and long-term. 

For example, say you are showing a client how to sprint on a treadmill, accidentally slip and fall off, spraining your ankle. Your doctor has advised that you will need physiotherapy for your ankle for several months, presenting you with an additional long-term cost to account for. 

However, if you have personal accident insurance, most policies will cover the cost of your physiotherapy. It can also cover things such as medication, or short-term injury treatments such as operations. 

The amount that you are covered for will vary from company to company, and depend on your individual policy. 

For example, Insure4Sport’s personal accident insurance for personal trainers policy says that it covers up to £50,000 for the cost of treatment and rehabilitation:

Whereas Hiscox says that you can set a value for your personal accident cover, between £5-100,000:

Even the most experienced of PTs can have accidents, so this type of personal trainer insurance is definitely worth getting if you want peace of mind and financial security. 

Loss of Earnings Insurance for Personal Trainers

If you are injured whilst working as a PT, you may have no choice but to stop working whilst you recover.

This can have a serious financial impact, as you would have to cancel several weeks worth of clients, meaning that you are unable to earn money. 

However, if you have loss of earnings insurance, you will be covered in this kind of situation. 

Where personal accident insurance covers the cost of your injury treatment and rehabilitation, loss of earnings insurance covers your expenses until you are well enough to start working again. 

For example, say you have a serious accident in the gym, such as a heavy weight falling on you and breaking your foot. You are told by your doctor that you cannot walk on it for several weeks and that you should rest at home.  

Without personal accident insurance, this could have a serious financial impact, as you would have to cancel several weeks worth of clients. You may also have to continue paying costs such as gym rent, despite not earning any money during this time. 

Most loss of earnings insurance for personal trainers will cover these costs, meaning that you have some financial security until you can return to work. 

For example, Insure4Sport offers loss of earnings insurance for up to 52 weeks of you being out of work:

It is also worth noting that you may sometimes see personal accident and loss of earnings insurance grouped together and called ‘income protection insurance’. 

Equipment Insurance for Personal Trainers

As well as yourself and your clients, you should also think about protecting your equipment. 

Equipment insurance for personal trainers covers you in the case of your equipment being lost, stolen or damaged.

‘Equipment’ doesn’t just mean things like weights and exercise mats- it can also mean anything else you use to work as a PT, such as a laptop. 

Whilst most personal trainers will own some kind of equipment, this type of personal trainer insurance is particularly useful if you are:

• A mobile personal trainer and take your own equipment to clients’ homes. If you are a mobile personal trainer, you will probably have invested a lot of money into your equipment. In the event it is stolen (from your home, storage unit or even your car), equipment insurance will help cover the costs of replacing it. 
• You run bootcamp or fitness classes outside. If you run a bootcamp or fitness class outside, your whole business relies on having your own equipment- without it, you cannot operate. 

So in the event that it is stolen or damaged, equipment insurance will cover the cost of replacing it.

• Own your own gym or other space. If you are a gym owner, or even just own a small space where you run your sessions from, you will of course have a lot of expensive equipment that would have a huge financial impact if it were stolen or damaged. 

The terms of personal trainer equipment insurance will vary between providers. For example, some policies may have a maximum value of equipment that they insure, or have different policies on whether they provide replacement equipment or a monetary sum.  

For example, Insure4Sport’s personal trainer insurance for equipment states that they will replace equipment if it is less than a year old with a maximum value of £2,500 per item:

So, in order to find the best personal training insurance for you, make sure that your policy covers the exact type of equipment you use as part of your business. 

Insurance for Working With Special Populations

If you are a personal trainer for clients that fall under the category of ‘special populations’, you should make sure that your personal trainer insurance policy covers you. 

Some examples of what we mean by special populations are:

• Disabled clients
• Elderly clients
• Pregnant clients
• Clients with health conditions such as diabetes 
• Overweight clients 
• Children 

When choosing a personal trainer insurance policy, you should therefore ensure that it covers you for working with these kinds of clients. 

For example, if you are wanting to become a personal trainer for kids, Insure4Sport state that they can cover you for working with children:

However, many of the main insurance providers do not explicitly state their policy on special populations on their website. In most cases, you will therefore have to ask the insurance provider whether they cover your specific needs when you enquire or get a quote.

It is also important to note that many insurance companies will see working with special populations as a higher risk, and may therefore charge more for a policy to cover them. We will explain this in more detail when we discuss personal trainer insurance costs later in this article. 

Do Personal Trainers Need Employer’s Liability Insurance?

As well as the types of personal training insurance we have mentioned so far, if you employ other people as part of your PT business, you will also need employers liability insurance. 

Many insurance companies may give the impression that if you own your own business, you need this kind of insurance. 

But most personal trainers operate as ‘sole traders’, i.e. they are self-employed and work for themselves. If this is you, then you do not need employer’s liability insurance. 

However, if you employ other staff as part of your PT business, it is a legal requirement for you to take out employer’s liability insurance. 

Employer’s liability insurance for personal trainers covers you for any claims that your employees may make against you, such as injury or illness while they are working for you.

Most employer’s liability insurance policies covers:

• Full time staff
• Part time staff
• Temporary staff
• Apprentices
• Voluntary staff
• Contractors 
• Ex-employees 

For example, say you have set up your own gym and have hired a receptionist to manage your bookings and other admin jobs. If they injure themselves, whether it’s a serious injury or simply slipping on a wet floor, they could make a claim against you, as they could deem you responsible since you are their employer. 

Without employer’s liability insurance, you would be liable to pay the compensation and/or legal fees to your employee out of your own pocket! However, if you have employer’s liability insurance, you will be covered in the event of something like this. 

How Much Is Personal Training Insurance?

As you may imagine, when it comes to personal trainer insurance costs, the more you cover, the more expensive your policy is likely to be.

Some other factors that can affect personal trainer insurance cost in the UK are:

If you make a claim. The main thing that will cause your personal trainer insurance cost to go up is if you make a claim. Most insurance companies will charge an ‘excess’ fee for making a claim. However, this is then refunded to you if your claim is successful, i.e. if you are found not to be at fault. 

This table from Simply Business gives a good indication of the kinds of excess you can expect to pay as part of your personal trainer insurance coverage:

You should therefore make sure that you are financially able to pay this excess fee upfront, before you make a claim. 

The nature of your PT business. Another major factor that could affect the personal trainer insurance cost is who you are training. 

This kind of information is usually found in the smallprint of your policy contract, or under an FAQs section of the insurance company’s website. 

For example, if you have a PT business that specialises in training a special population such as older clients, you may need a more expensive cover, because there is a higher risk of injury involved. 

Similarly, the location of your training could impact personal training insurance costs. For example, this insurance company explains the type of personal trainer insurance you would need for training clients outdoors. 

Payment method. Some companies will allow you to spread the cost of your policy over several months, whereas others may want you to pay upfront. If you have the financial means to do so, paying upfront is usually a cheaper option. 

The policy length. Typical personal trainer insurance policies range from anywhere between 6-24 months in duration. In general, the longer the contract you commit to, the lower the rate will be. So if you are planning on working in the fitness industry for a while and are looking for cheap personal trainer insurance, it might be best to opt for a longer policy length!

Interest rates. If you choose to pay your personal trainer insurance costs monthly, you should read the small print of your policy to check whether they charge interest.  

As you can see, there is no single answer to the question, ‘how much is insurance for a personal trainer?’. Since it depends on so many individual factors, we cannot tell you definitively the cheapest personal trainer insurance.

With this in mind, most insurance companies will offer a free quote, where you can put things such as the type of cover you want. This is the best way to find out the cheapest personal trainer insurance for you.

Below are some example quotes from personal trainer insurance companies. As you can see, both quotes detail what is included in the cover for the price. 

We would also recommend checking out price comparison websites such as GoCompare or Compare The Market, where you can get a free quote that takes into account your specific needs.

Does personal trainer insurance cost more if I’m newly qualified?

If you have just qualified as a PT, you may be worried that you will have to pay more for personal trainer insurance than someone who is more experienced.

However, this is not necessarily the case!

Unlike car insurance, for example, being a newly qualified personal trainer does not necessarily mean that you have to pay more. 

For most insurance companies, they will see the risk as the same for a newly qualified PT as an experienced one. 

So, if you’re thinking of becoming a personal trainer, you shouldn’t let the thought of expensive insurance put you off!

Personal Training Insurance Compared

When trying to find the best personal trainer insurance in the UK, you should take the time to research and find the best policy for your specific needs. 

The best thing to do is look at personal trainer insurance reviews. However, make sure that you use impartial websites to do this, such as:

• Trustpilot
• Feefo 
• Review Centre

Using these impartial sites ensures that you are reading reviews from real paying customers, rather than being influenced by the insurance company themselves. 

When looking at personal trainer insurance reviews, you should also make sure that you look at not only the review score, but also the number of reviews. This is because the more reviews they have, the more accurate the average rating will be.

With this in mind, we’ve done our own quick comparison of the main personal trainer insurance companies. 

As you can see from the table below, Insure4Sport and Protectivity both rank highest with an average Trustpilot review of 4.8. However, Insure4Sport has 3,448 reviews, whereas Protectivity only has 150, giving much more reliability to the review. 

Although these reviews give a good indication of the best personal trainer insurance in the UK, as we have said, the best insurance for you really depends on your specific situation and needs! 

Before You Go!

So, if you were wondering, ‘do you need insurance to be a personal trainer?’, we hope you now understand more about the different types of personal trainer insurance you need and the best personal trainer insurance costs.

Continue growing the services you offer alongside your Level 3 Personal Trainer with one of our Level 4 Personal Trainer courses, starting with our nutrition course here. 

Find out more by getting in touch with our team today or check out the full range of courses we offer by downloading our free course prospectus here.