Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969


The Employers' Liability Act 1969 is a UK Act of Parliament which requires that employers carry insurance against the personal injury of their employees.

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The insurance that employers must take out is referred to as Employer's Liability Compulsory Insurance. As well as being insured, employers must post details of the insurance for staff to see. This requirement applies to most companies; exemptions include public organisations and certain micro companies.
Under section 5, offenders can be sentenced, on summary conviction in the Magistrates' Court, to a fine of up to level 4 on the standard scale.

Employers' Liability Tracing Office

The Employers' Liability Tracing Office is an independent UK agency set up to provide insurance claimants and their representatives with online access to a database of Employers' Liability Insurance policies, so that people suffering from a disease/injury caused at work with a former employer can identify who provides their insurance. It is organised as an independent, not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and funded by a levy. It was established in 2011 and is based in Milton Keynes. ELTO replaced a previous voluntary Employers' Liability Code of Practice tracing service, which had been in place since 1999.
In February 2011, the Financial Services Authority published regulations concerning the way that insurers and intermediaries record employers' liability policy data.

Working abroad

The Act does not require compulsory insurance against illness and injury suffered by employees working abroad. The case of Reid v Rush and Tompkins Group Plc established that there is no requirement to advise an employee to obtain insurance for themselves: