Employers' Liability Insurance - Flawed

It has been compulsory to have at least third party insurance when using a vehicle on the road in the UK since the 1930s.  The Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) are right to highlight the large number of drivers who ignore this legal obligation, costing the rest of us money in the process, as the insurance industry are left to compensate victims of uninsured / untraced drivers via the central fund that is MIB, but of course, the industry pass on that cost to the rest of us by way of higher premiums.

However, there is more to this than meets the eye.  Firstly, although the passing of compulsory motor insurance legislation guaranteed insurers an enormous market in this country, those insurers did not return the compliment by maintaining any kind of useful database, so that victims could actually find the insurers of the blameworthy driver, until they were basically forced to establish it by EU legislation in 2001.

Secondly, there is another form of compulsory insurance which, again, guarantees insurers an enormous market – that is the requirement for employer’s liability cover.  Although such cover is a legal requirement, there is a fundamental flaw in the system which both the insurance industry and government seem reluctant to address.  There is no central register of employer’s liability insurers.  Therefore when an employee wishes to bring a claim, they are reliant upon the employer to provide them with insurance details for the period in question.  This may seem like a straightforward task, but consider the plight of an employee suffering from an industrial disease with a lengthy gestation period – asbestos related illnesses can often take decades to manifest themselves after exposure.  I can tell you from personal experience how difficult it can be, even where the employer is genuinely trying to help, to track down the relevant insurers from so long ago.

As for the insurers, even when the claimant does get a lead, very often the insurers claim to have no records, and basically send the claimant packing.  Expecting the insurers to admit (for that is what is required) that they were on cover at the relevant time, is a bit like expecting turkeys to vote for Christmas.

So while the employee can still, in theory, sue the employer, very often the employer has insufficient assets, or may even no longer be in existence, thereby rendering proceedings against them futile without identifying an insurer who can actually pay the amount of any judgment.

With apologies for the double negative, do not fall into the trap of thinking that it will never happen to you.  No one knows when they may be injured or contract a disease in the course of their employment and need to consider bringing an employer’s liability claim.  There is no justification, practical or moral for the insurance industry’s failure to implement a central register of cover.  Until that register has been established, claimants face the lottery of not knowing whether, even though they may have a perfectly good claim, they will ever be able to pursue it.

For more information about making a claim against an employer for a work related injury, contact Neille Ryan, specialist in Industrial Compensation Claims.