We provide both Employers Liability Insurance and Public Liability insurance. More information on both can be seen below.
Employers Liability
Employers Liability Insurance covers your business if an employee is injured or falls ill at work. Under UK law namely the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 you are required to effect this cover if you employ anyone.
All employers must take out this type of insurance, although there are a few exemptions (such as if you are the sole employee of your limited company, and also own at least 50% of the share capital in the company).
If you are a sole trader and do not employ anyone (or you only employ close family members), you should also be exempt. However, if you occasionally hire staff or use temps or seasonal workers, you must take out insurance.
If any of your employees are normally based abroad but spend more than 14 days continuously in Great Britain, you will need Employers Liability under English Law.
The HSE provides a guide to the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 & we would recommend that all Insured’s read this.
Employers’ Liability Insurance will meet the cost of compensation for injuries sustained to your employees (or illnesses), whether caused on or off site. It should be noted that this type of insurance only covers your employees. Potential claims made against you by other third parties (members of the public) can be covered by Public Liability Insurance.
If any of your employees are injured in a motoring accident, any claims may be covered separately by your motor insurance policy.
Generally, someone is defined as your employee if:
- you deduct N.I contributions and income tax from the salary you pay them
- you control when, where and how they work
- they cannot employ a substitute when they are unavailable to work
If you are required to take out employers’ liability insurance, you must be covered for at least £5m. In practice, most insurers will offer £10m of cover. Once you have taken out cover, you must display the insurance certificate in a place where your employee’s can view it.
The Health & Safety Executive have the powers to fine your business up to £2,500 per day if you are not covered properly for this type of insurance.
Whilst Insureds’ have this cover they still have legal responsibilities to protect the health and safety of their employees.
Public Liability
Public Liability cover should be considered if members of the public, clients or customers visit your premises. If you run a home-business, and customers sometimes visit you there, Public Liability cover might also be a good idea.
Public Liability insurance will cover you if someone is accidentally injured by you or your business operation. It will also cover you if you damage third party property while on business. The cover should include any legal fees and expenses which result from any claim by a third party.
This type of insurance will only cover third party claims (i.e. not your own employees – you need Employers Liability Insurance for your own employees).
You should always ensure that your insurer knows what type of business you run, and you should always inform them if your circumstances change, as this may affect your policy.
Most film locations are now requiring a production company to have a minimum Public Liability Limit of GBP5,000,000 with some studios now requiring GBP10,000,000 under standard studio hiring agreements.