\t\t\t\tDid you know that businesses and organisations can be fined \u00a32,500 for each day they go without the required Employers\u2019 Liability Certificate? Does your business have one on display?<\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re an SME, a global conglomerate, or even a church or charity, by law you are responsible for your workers\u2019 health and safety. If an employee tripped over a stray cable in the office and hurt their back or a construction worker employed by your company developed a long-term illness from dust-inhalation on-site, then your business or organisation could be liable. \u00a0This is where employers’ liability insurance comes in.<\/p>\n
Employers\u2019 liability insurance covers the legal fees and compensation costs in cases where an employee suffers a work-related injury or illness, and then claims damages.<\/p>\n
Certain organisations are exempt, including:<\/p>\n
1) Public organisations, such as government departments and local authorities, health service bodies, and some publicly funded organisations such as the magistrates\u2019 court committee.
\n2) Family businesses \u2013 so if all of your employees are close relatives, then you might not need to be insured, unless your company is incorporated as a limited company.
\n3) Companies employing only their owner when the owner has a 50% or greater share are usually exempt, too.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re unsure if you need employers\u2019 liability insurance then consult an expert, and get a compliant policy in place ASAP. There are severe financial ramifications if you go without a policy; not just in fines, but also in the potential costs your business could incur if you were sued without cover in place.<\/p>\n
Under the 1969 Employers\u2019 Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act, many employers must have this insurance in place to a value of at last \u00a35m. The fines if you don\u2019t comply are catastrophic: up to \u00a32,500 for each day you go without this insurance.<\/p>\n
The policy will cover the specific activities relating to your business and only authorised insurers are approved to sell employers\u2019 liability cover that meets government guidelines.<\/p>\n
An Employers’ Liability\u00a0policy covers any paid\u00a0employees<\/strong> but you should also have a policy if you have any volunteers<\/strong> working for you.<\/p>\n How do you define an employee in our convoluted business world?<\/p>\n Someone typically classifies as an employee if: Ordinarily you don\u2019t need to cover those who work for you as independent contractors, however, it\u2019s important to check the individual circumstances, as it might be that they are classified as self-employed for tax purposes, but fall into the \u2018employee\u2019 category for other reasons. Unpaid work experience students are usually automatically covered under your existing policy, but it\u2019s always worth double checking.<\/p>\n Domestic help such as cleaners and gardeners will not usually need to be covered if they\u00a0work for more than one person, however, if you are their sole employer, it\u2019s likely that they are classed as employees and will need to be covered, even if they only work as a volunteer.<\/p>\n You are required to display the certificate for your employers\u2019 liability policy. Since October 2008, employers have been given the option to display certificates electronically, but if you choose this method, it\u2019s important that your employees have reasonable access to it as part of their job. Whether you display your certificate on the wall or electronically, it needs to be clearly listed in employee policies where they can locate it.<\/p>\n If the certificate is not on display or you refuse to show it to Health and Safety Executive\u00a0inspectors when they request to see it, you can be fined \u00a31,000.<\/p>\n As of 2008, it\u2019s no longer a requirement that you keep certificates for out of date policies.\u00a0However, just because the policies are no longer covering you for the current year, doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re not valid for a previous year.<\/p>\n Some diseases can crop up years later; employees may make a claim against you for the period they were exposed to the threat. If you fail to keep the relevant back-dated insurance details, you could be liable for these costs yourself in the future.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Did you know that businesses and organisations can be fined \u00a32,500 for each day they go without the required Employers\u2019 Liability Certificate? Does your business have one on display? Whether you\u2019re an SME, a global conglomerate, or even a church or charity, by law you are responsible for your workers\u2019 health and safety. If an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[186,187,190],"tags":[196,197,198,116,38],"acf":{"related_articles":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.networkportfolio.co.uk\/edwardsinsurance.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– You deduct national insurance and income tax from their wages
\n– You have the right to choose where, when and how they work
\n– You supply their work equipment
\n– You have the right to the profit your workers make (although this is sometimes
\nshared via commission, bonuses and shares)
\n– You specify that it must be them that delivers the work, not a substitute
\n– They are treated similarly to other employees, for example, they do the same work
\nunder the same conditions as someone who is defined as an employee<\/p>\n
\nUsually it\u2019s likely they wouldn\u2019t be considered an employee if they: don\u2019t work exclusively for you, supply their own materials, can arrange a substitute rather than doing the work themselves, and where you don\u2019t deduct income tax or national insurance.<\/p>\nDo you need to display your certificate?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How long do you need to keep certificates?<\/strong><\/h3>\n