Question 1

What is employers’ liability insurance?

Accepted Answer

It protects your business if an employee or former employee brings a successful claim against you for injury or illness suffered as a result of working for you.

Question 2

Must I have it?

Accepted Answer

If you employ anyone you are legally obliged to have employers’ liability insurance. This is the case even if you only employ one person, or your employees are part time, volunteers or trainees. The size of the business is also irrelevant.

If you employ a close family member, or if the person you employ lives overseas, cover may not be needed. However, it is recommended.

Your policy must cover you for at least £5 million and come from an authorised insurer.

Question 3

Why must I have it?

Accepted Answer

You are legally required to have employers’ liability insurance if you employ someone. You can be fined for every day you are not insured.

Having cover demonstrates you are a responsible employer who cares about the health, safety, and wellbeing of your employees. Some businesses may refuse to work with you if you don’t have it.

You also need to be insured due to the expense of claims for personal injury or illness, especially if they relate to loss of earnings, or a serious injury or illness. You may also have to pay costly legal fees.

All of this can add up to a substantial sum. If you don’t have insurance, a claim must be paid by your business. This could result in financial ruin.

Question 4

Do I have to display the certificate?

Accepted Answer

It is a legal requirement to display your employers' liability insurance certificate in a prominent place, where your staff have access to it.

It’s important not to confuse employers’ liability insurance with other insurance documents that you are not legally required to display, such as public liability insurance. However, we recommend that you display that too.

Question 5

Where should I display the certificate?

Accepted Answer

Put it somewhere prominent where employees can see it.

You may have a digital copy and a hard copy. The printed original could be displayed with other essential documents that must be shown, such as Health and Safety information. A digital version might be stored somewhere employees can access, such as a shared network drive.

If you display your certificate digitally, you don’t have to display the hard copy. However, we would advise you to include it with your employee policy documents.

Question 6

What happens if I don’t display my employers’ liability insurance certificate?

Accepted Answer

You can be fined up to £1,000. This also applies if you fail to make your certificate available to an inspector, when asked.

Question 7

How long do I need to display the certificate?

Accepted Answer

You should display it for the entire period covered by the certificate.

You don’t have to keep certificates for out-of-date policies. However, bear in mind that some illnesses take time to develop.

If an employee develops an illness some years after working for you, and you don’t have a copy of the insurance certificate for that time, you may have to meet the costs of any claim from your business.

Where should an employers’ liability certificate be displayed?