Licence

[shuay]

Hi
Can anyone tell me if it is necessary to have a licence to practice IHM & Reflexology at home?

Thanks!

 

[LowkeyedOne]

I thought this might help. Unfortunately I'm not the kind soul who spent much time typing this up, I've borrowed it from the old forum and their name has been deleted.

"Regulations and Requirements
Health & Safety: The Law

There are various rules and regulations involved in setting up your own business, whether you are mobile, practising from home or from business premises. These statutory Acts of Law are to ensure-as far as is practicable – the health, safety, and welfare of all persons at work. These statutory acts also protect persons who are not in your employ, but whose health and safety may be exposed to risk by your work activities (which includes clients and anyone entering your premises).

As a small business owner you must:

·Inform the Health and Safety Executive Area Office or your local Authorities Environmental Health Department of your business name and address.

·Inform the Health and Safety Executive Area office or your local Authorities Environmental Health Department of any new employees

·Get employer’s liability insurance and display the certificate at your place of work if you take on other therapists or persons to help with your business.

·Display the Health and Safety Law Poster (available from HMSO) or hand out leaflets containing the equivalent information.

·Make an assessment of the risks in your work place – which must be acted upon, and kept as a written record if you have five or more employees (this includes fire risks)

·Bring your written statement of your health and safety policy to the attention of your employees (only applicable if you have five or more employees). This policy must be kept up to date.

·Register with your local Health Authority, if appropriate. This will apply in particular to those therapists whose work involves piercing skin in any way (see London Local Authorities act 1991 section of this fact sheet.

Some of these procedures do sound more complex then they actually are, and the HSE provide very straightforward leaflets that explain any aspect of the health and safety regulatory requirements that you don’t fully understand.

When you do inform your local Health and Safety Executive Office that you are going into business, they may decide to check your business premises. This will depend on the requirements of your own local authority, and their requirements would affect you whether you work from a salon/clinic or from your own home.

The Law – A Breakdown

The principal act that is of interest to any beauty, holistic, or sports therapist starting up a small business is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This is what’s known as an enabling Act, and it allows specific regulations to be made under it.

The general duties of employers to their employees are set down in
Section 2 (1) of the act:
“It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonable practicable the health, safety, and welfare at work of all his employees”.

In addition to his/her responsibilities to his/her employees, an employer will also have duties for the protection of other persons, e.g. members of the public. These are stated in
Section 3 (1): “it shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not exposed to risks to their health or safety”.

All persons who are self-employed also have responsibilities under the act, which are dealt with under
Section 3 (2): “it shall be the duty of every self-employed person to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the he and other persons (not being his employees) who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.

Enforcement officers have powers under the act to enter premises at any reasonable time to carry out an inspection (Section 20). Following an inspection they may also serve a stat

 

[Princessofheart19]

Hi Bjay

I think the only place you will need a licence is in the London area as for the health and safety at work this is not applicable in your own home or other peoples homes as long as you are working from home and not at home, in which caser as well as AngelFishes post you will also have to declare part of your home as business premises and apply for planning permission and further pay business rates, however what you will require is professional indemnity insurance to practice anywhere if you have recognised qualifications if not then public liability will suffice.

 

[barry g.]

I have always understood that health and safety laws was applicable to all businesses, including self employed and therapists, bringing client's into their homes (ie working at home, which bjay would be), as opposed to visiting clients at their site (ie working from home).

In regards to declaring part of your house as a business, it's only really applicable if you plan to apportion a percentage to your household services bills (ie, electricity, gas) you'll need to verify this though with your accountant or local authority.

As for planning permission and business rates, I was also thought that this is only applicable if you are planning to change the status of your building from a personal dwelling to a commercial permises and I don't think this is required
as long as your total working area does not amount to more than 20% of your home.

I'm not totally sure on all of this, so your LA and small business partnership should be able to help clarify everything.

 

[Alejo]

Hi AngelFish

If you want to work at home then part of your home is deemed to be commercial premises, the way round this is to make sure the part of your home that doubles up as an office or therapy room is still usable as say a bedroom and then you are working from home and it also helps if you do some home visits so all of your workload is not on your own premises.

The idea of working from home is to keep it as simple as possible with as little overheads as you can manage and as little of the legitimate rigmarole as you can manage, as someone who has been doing this for over 20 years with a variety of different businesses all I can say is it works very well

 

[McPerry]

Thanks Paul, I knew there was a reason for having a bed in the office[sm=sleep.gif]

 

[devy]

If your neighbours are not happy they may report you to the local council as has happened to me and they have been round to see if i need to apply for a change of use.....4 weeks later i am still waiting......they also wanted to look over the whole house and into my diary, they were not so bothered about whether the room was being used as another residential room although obviously this is a concern but also how many people i was seeing in a day and whether that would be enough to require change of use.......
Hugs
Tracy

 

[*VAIBHAV*]

Thanks Guys for all the info, there really is so much to it, isn't there!

The room I'll be using is a bedroom and does have a bed in it Paul, thanks for that!

I'm really sorry about your neighbours TigerBee, I like to think my neighbours will be much nicer! Hope it goes ok for you.

Bjay