HOW TO HIRE · BEAUTY & GROOMING

How to hire a mobile beautician in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

No licence covers mobile beauticians in any UK nation. Here is what to check, what to ask, and what to do if it goes wrong.

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  • Nearest to you first
  • One score from Google, Trustpilot and Locufy reviews

THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring a mobile beautician in five steps

  1. Check training per treatmentNails, waxing, lashes — each has its own course.
  2. Check insuranceCover for each treatment and for home visits.
  3. Book patch testsFor tints, lash lifts and extensions.
  4. Clear a warm spaceWell lit, with a socket and room for a couch.
  5. Agree the totalTreatments and travel, in writing.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

Mobile beauticians need no licence and sit on no register in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Licensing starts where the skin is pierced, which a beauty treatment at home does not do.

Ask to see their training for this exact treatment, and confirm their insurance.

Insurance that covers the beauty treatment at home

Cover is treatment-specific: one mobile beautician's policy may include the beauty treatment at home but not home visits, another the reverse. Public liability insurance is what pays if you are hurt.

Ask who insures them, and whether the beauty treatment at home is named on the cover.

Trader status under the Consumer Rights Act 2015

When a mobile beautician sells you a beauty treatment at home as a business, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 treats them as a trader who must work with reasonable care and skill; a beauty treatment at home that falls short can be redone or the price cut.

The trader badge shows on the mobile beautician's Locufy profile; save the booking message as your record. legislation.gov.uk →

Cancellation rights for a home booking

A mobile beautician booked online, by phone or at your door is covered by the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013: 14 days from booking to cancel, and if you asked for the beauty treatment at home sooner you pay for what was done.

Ask the mobile beautician for the cancellation terms in writing. legislation.gov.uk →

VAT

Treatments at home from a mobile beautician are standard-rated at 20%. A mobile beauty business over the £90,000 threshold must register and show VAT on the booking receipt; a sole beautician below that usually charges none.

Ask whether the mobile beautician gives a VAT number, and check pamper-party prices say whether VAT is included. gov.uk →

“Which beauty treatments are you trained in?”

A good answer: A named course for each one the mobile beautician offers.

“Does your insurance cover every beauty treatment at my home?”

A good answer: Yes, with the schedule to show it.

“How do you keep beauty tools clean between homes?”

A good answer: Sealed sterilised tools, new files and fresh wax spatulas.

“Do any of my beauty treatments need a patch test?”

A good answer: Yes for tints, lash lifts and extensions — booked ahead.

“What space do you need for the couch and lamp?”

A good answer: A clear list, so the mobile beautician sets up quickly.

“What is the travel charge?”

A good answer: A figure in the quote.

“Do you offer anything that pierces the skin?”

A good answer: If so, the council registration or licence for it — or a clear no.

Getting the quote right

  • Each treatment priced
  • Travel charge and minimum booking
  • Group or pamper-party prices
  • Cancellation terms, including 14 days for a home booking
  • Who actually attends: the mobile beautician you booked, or extra therapists for a party, and whether they are employed or subcontracted
  • The beautician's VAT number if registered, with VAT apart from each treatment and the travel

Walk away if

  • Insurance for one treatment, not all of them
  • No patch test for tints or lashes
  • Wax spatulas reused
  • Injections or piercing offered with no licence or prescriber
LOW
£40
TYPICAL
£85
HIGH
£159

What a mobile beautician costs: £40–£159 per booking

Mobile beauticians price per booking, by treatment, with travel and group prices set by distance and size. Mobile Beautician price guide →

Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

Mobile beauticians near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you.

  1. ConsultationTreatments agreed and allergies checked.
  2. Set upCouch, lamp and sealed tools laid out.
  3. TreatmentsDone in the agreed order.
  4. AftercareAdvice for each treatment.
  5. Pack downThe room left tidy by the mobile beautician.

Pamper party
Several guests treated at one address.
Patch test
A test of a product on your skin before treatment.
Sterilised tools
Metal tools cleaned and sealed between clients.
Travel charge
The fee for coming to you.
Minimum booking
The smallest booking the beautician travels for.
Off-premises contract
A booking made away from the trader's premises — 14 days to cancel.

AFTER

When the job is done

Keep the bookingTreatments, price and travel.
Watch your skinAny reaction after a tint, wax or lash treatment: tell the mobile beautician.
Check the roomWax, polish and tan cleared away.
Leave the reviewOnly a beauty treatment at home booked through Locufy can be reviewed there. If the beauty treatment at home is not right, use the make-it-right step first so the mobile beautician can put it right before the review goes up.

STEP 1Tell the mobile beautician, in writingKeep it factual: what was agreed, what you got, what you want now. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you a redo first and money back second.
STEP 2Use the make-it-right step on LocufyGive the beauty treatment at home under four stars and we ask whether to send it to the mobile beautician first; we follow it through with them, and then you review.
STEP 3No regulator — Trading StandardsNo body licenses a mobile beautician, so a beauty treatment at home dispute you cannot settle goes to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer helpline (0808 223 1133) in England and Wales, Advice Direct Scotland (0808 800 9060) or Consumerline in Northern Ireland (0300 123 6262).
STEP 4Small claims, if it comes to moneyIf the mobile beautician will not refund or redo the beauty treatment at home, you can claim without a solicitor: up to £10,000 on the small claims track in England and Wales, up to £5,000 under simple procedure in Scotland, and up to £5,000 in the small claims court in Northern Ireland.

Hiring a mobile beautician: questions people ask

No register or licence applies. That puts the checking on you: photos of their work, their training and who insures them.

Reasonable care and skill — the Consumer Rights Act 2015 standard — applies to every beauty treatment at home bought from a trader. Write to them, ask for it to be put right, and if it cannot be, ask for money back.

£40–£159 per booking, typically around £85. The treatments booked, travel, group size and London rates decide it. For the breakdown, read the mobile beautician price guide; your town in the search box above shows mobile beauticians near you.

Usually 14 days from booking, under regulation 30 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, for a service agreed online, by phone or at your door. If you asked for the beauty treatment at home inside those days and it is done, you pay for it.

Only if a prescriber has assessed you and prescribed it; the MHRA has warned about unlicensed botulinum toxin given in homes and through mobile beauty services.

Tell them in writing and ask for their insurer's details; public liability insurance covers it.

MORE GUIDES

More hiring guides in beauty & grooming

How to hire: Mobile Nail TechnicianHow to hire: Mobile Spray TanHow to hire: Mobile Makeup ArtistHow to hire: Mobile HairdresserHow to hire: WaxingHow to hire: FacialsHow to hire: Lash Lift & TintHow to hire: Manicure & PedicureAll 701 hiring guides →

Mobile beauticians near you

Mobile beauticians in LondonMobile beauticians in ManchesterMobile beauticians in BirminghamMobile beauticians in GlasgowMobile beauticians in BelfastAll mobile beauticians on Locufy →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. gov.uk — tattoo, piercing and electrolysis licence (England and Wales), with London's Special Treatments Licence
  2. gov.uk (MHRA) — crackdown on illegal 'Botox'
  3. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  4. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 54 — your rights when a service falls short
  5. Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30 — cancellation period
  6. gov.uk — VAT rates
  7. nidirect — small claims process (Northern Ireland)
  8. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register