Is employers liability insurance legally required?

What is employers liability insurance?

Employers’ liability insurance protects employers from liabilities such as staff illness or injury at work.

Is employers liability insurance legally required?

A recent survey on 1,507 SME's from Aviva has revealed that 11% or 1 in 10 SME's are unaware that employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement. Further results showed that SME's only believed it was only a legal requirement if the business had more than 1 employee. In addition to this, figures from the Health and Safety Executive suggested that employers without the liability insurance are at “risk of fines of £2,500 for every day the business is not properly insured”.

Out of the 1,507 SME's studied, 29% were confident they had the right cover whilst 12% admitted to not having any business insurance at all. Aviva also went on to discover that the priority of having business insurance differed depending on how long the business had been running. A quarter of SME's who have been operating for less than a year, had no insurance, whilst 5% of businesses which have been operating for around 8-10 years had none.

The managing director of commercial lines at Aviva, Angus Eaton has argued that "SMEs need a strong understanding of their legal obligations and how they can protect their business and employees to keep it trading. One claim without adequate cover could easily be enough to put severe financial pressure on an organisation or even close it down completely.”

Looking to protect your business should a claim arise?

MTA Business Legal Advance is an upfront membership club which allows you to protect your business and access immediate legal assistance when you need it most. Your business could encounter a legal issues at any time, whether it be an HR issue, employment contract or trading dispute, a regulatory, property management or office premises problem.

Who would you call for immediate legal assistance? How would you pay?

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Find out more at business.legal-advance.co.uk or simply call us 0208 437 0880.