Can I refuse to treat a client?

You may decline or postpone a treatment for a legitimate, individual reason, but must comply with equality law and consider reasonable adjustments.

In England, Wales and Scotland, salons are service providers under the Equality Act 2010 (Northern Ireland has its own equality law). You cannot refuse someone *because of* a protected characteristic — disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, age, gender reassignment, sex, or sexual orientation. A refusal connected to one of these is not, however, automatically unlawful. An individual assessment does not itself make a refusal lawful. Different legal tests apply; disability-related unfavourable treatment may require objective justification, alongside the separate duty to make reasonable adjustments.

A diagnosis is not a decision. "We don't treat clients with HIV" is a blanket exclusion based on a condition that is a disability under the Act — and standard infection-control precautions already apply to every client. The same goes for blanket bans on epilepsy, dementia or wheelchair users. Instead, assess the individual: is there a genuine, treatment-specific risk for this person; can they give informed consent; and what access need or adjustment would let them proceed? Do not assume someone lacks capacity because of a diagnosis or disability; support them to understand and decide.

What keeps you on the right side of it:

• Offer an appropriate alternative where one is suitable and within your competence. Declining one treatment and suggesting another that genuinely fits the client is adapting the service, not refusing the client — but only offer alternatives you are trained and insured to carry out.
• A consistent policy is a starting point, not the finish. Applying your rules evenly helps, but equality law still requires you to assess each client individually and make reasonable adjustments for disabled clients. That duty is *anticipatory* — you are expected to plan for access needs in advance, not wait to be asked — and it is not satisfied simply by treating everyone identically.
• Record the specific reason, the relevant assessment and any adjustments considered, in the client's record at the time — not just "declined."
• Do not proceed without valid consent. If the client cannot currently give it, pause or postpone and follow the applicable consent and capacity requirements.
• Respond proportionately to behaviour. You can take proportionate action against actual abuse or threats to staff. Where behaviour may arise from a disability, assess it carefully before acting rather than treating it as simple misconduct.

Follow your actual insurance policy wording, your training, and the manufacturer's product and device instructions for each treatment — those define what you may and may not do. A GP letter does not by itself make a treatment suitable or guarantee you are insured; it is one input to your assessment, not a green light.

Sources

• Equality Act 2010, Part 3 — services and public functions
• Equality Act 2010, section 15 — discrimination arising from disability (objective justification)
• Equality Act 2010, section 6 and Schedule 1 — definition of disability; HIV, cancer and MS are deemed disabilities from diagnosis
• EHRC Code of Practice — services: reasonable adjustments for disabled people (Chapter 7, anticipatory duty)
• Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 1 — the principles (presume capacity; support decision-making)