Starting Your Own Salon: The Paperwork to Do From Day One

The Exciting Bit Comes With Admin

You've trained hard, built your skills, and you're ready to start seeing clients professionally. But alongside the treatment room and the kit list, there's a set of admin essentials that separates a hobby from a proper business.

Getting the paperwork right from the start means fewer headaches later. Here's what to set up before your first client walks in.

Register Your Business

If you're trading as a sole trader, you'll need to register with HMRC for self-assessment. This is straightforward and can be done online. If you're setting up as a limited company, Companies House is where you register.

Don't leave this until your first tax return is due — register as soon as you start earning from treatments, even if you're working part-time or from home.

Client Consultation Forms

Before any treatment, you need a consultation form. This captures health history, allergies, medications, and medical conditions relevant to beauty treatment. It also provides a basis for your consent process.

A professional consultation form signals from the first appointment that you take your clients' wellbeing seriously — and it gives you essential information before you ever pick up a product.

These are templates to help you gather the right information. They are not a substitute for professional training or clinical judgement.

Consent Forms

A signed consent form for each treatment confirms that the client understood what would happen, was aware of any potential side effects, and agreed to proceed. For higher-risk services — advanced facials, lash work, intimate waxing, semi-permanent treatments — a treatment-specific consent form is particularly important.

Build the habit of using these from your very first client, not once you feel established enough to be "serious."

Professional Insurance

This is non-negotiable. Professional indemnity insurance covers you if a client claims a treatment caused them harm. Public liability insurance covers third-party injuries on your premises. Many insurers offer combined policies for beauty therapists.

Your insurer may also require evidence of your qualifications and the treatments you offer — so keep your certificates accessible.

ICO Registration

If you hold client data (and you will — names, health information, contact details), you're likely required to register with the Information Commissioner's Office and pay the annual data protection fee. Most small beauty businesses fall into the lowest fee tier.

Treatment Records

Every client's treatment history should be recorded — what was done, what products were used, any notes about their skin or response. These records support future treatments and give you a paper trail if any questions arise later.

Keep treatment records for at least three years after the last appointment.

Health and Safety

If you're working from home or a rented salon space, you're responsible for basic health and safety. That includes keeping your workspace hygienic, knowing how to dispose of sharps safely (if relevant), having a first aid kit, and understanding how to manage a reaction if one occurs.

Your training should cover much of this — but putting it in writing as part of your business setup reinforces it as a habit.

Price List and Cancellation Policy

Not glamorous, but essential. A written price list keeps things clear. A cancellation policy — how much notice you need, whether you charge for late cancellations or no-shows — protects your time and income.

Display these publicly and include them in your booking confirmations so clients can't claim they didn't know.

Starting Right Sets the Tone

The paperwork you put in place on day one shapes how professionally your business runs for years to come. It also builds confidence — yours and your clients'.

Professional beauty business forms, ready to use — from £29/yr.