Employee liability insurance covers your business in event of an employee becoming sick or injuring themselves whilst at work. A successful claim against a company from an employee can often be very expensive so employer’s liability insurance safe guards you from this and prevents one incident from potentially bankrupting a business.
What does Employer’s Liability Insurance cover?
Employer’s liability insurance will cover the cost needed to compensate employees who injury themselves or become sick as a result of work. This will also cover illnesses that occur after the employee has left work with the employer but may be claimed as it may be claimed as a result of the work. It does not cover motor accidents that may occur on an employee’s journey to work so extra cover is needed for this. The expense of some claims also means that if you do make a claim on your employer’s liability insurance you must be covered for at least £5 million.
Does your business need Employers Liability insurance?
In short – yes. Unless you are the sole person that does any business for your company you need to get insurance. If you are a UK business and have one employee or more then it is a legal requirement to have employer’s liability insurance under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. Family members who work for you do not count but if you have any seasonal or temporary staff at all this does still count as an employee. If you take your business seriously and care for the welfare of your employees this is something that will be a high priority for your business to ensure success.
What to watch out for
There are many costs for a business to deal with so by incorporating employer’s liability insurance into your original business insurance policy you can decrease the overall cost. This is not something to overlook either, if you do not take out employers’ liability when you employ staff, you could be asked to pay a £2,500 fine for each day you do not have it. Unfortunately, this insurance does not cover a business for all public liability either, interaction with customers or the public in any way needs to be protected with an additional public liability policy.
Bought your Employers Liability insurance?
Make sure you have your insurance certificate displayed clearly at all time as even if you do have the insurance if a spot Health and Safety check finds you without it then you can be fined anyway.