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Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance Act 1969 makes EL cover a statutory requirement for almost every UK employer. For professional firms, EL sits alongside PI and PL to complete the core insurance stack. This guide sets out how EL works and how it coordinates with the wider professional-firm insurance programme.
The Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 requires almost every UK employer to hold EL cover of at least £5m against liability for bodily injury or disease to employees arising out of and in the course of employment.
Certain small family businesses and some public bodies are exempt. Almost no professional firms qualify for exemption.
Non-compliance is a criminal offence with penalty up to £2,500 for each day without cover. HSE enforces.
Cover applies whether the employee is in the firm's office, home-office, client site, or elsewhere while performing work duties.
The 1969 Act definition is broad. It includes:
The definition is not identical to HMRC's IR35 employment test. Firm should test each working arrangement carefully.
Desk-based work causing back, neck, and repetitive-strain injuries. Growing claim category for law firms and accountancy firms as remote-work patterns evolve.
Stress, anxiety, burnout claims where work conditions are alleged causative. High-pressure professional environments face growing claim exposure. Duty of care under HSE Management Standards is the relevant framework.
Office-based accidents. Standard EL claim category.
Where professional employees visit client sites (site meetings, audit visits), injuries in that context are EL-covered.
Emerging category. Where workplace bullying causes psychological injury, EL can respond. Coordination with Employment Practices Liability (EPL) important.
EL covers claims from employees. PL covers claims from third parties. Different products, different trigger populations.
EL covers bodily injury / disease to employees. PI covers professional errors causing client / third-party financial loss. No overlap in typical scenarios.
EL covers physical / disease exposure. EPL covers employment-practice claims (discrimination, harassment, unfair dismissal). Different trigger but overlapping populations.
Typical professional-firm EL: 0.1-0.4% of wage roll for standard office work.
£10m per event is UK market standard, well above the statutory £5m minimum. Public-sector prime contractors often require higher.
For firms with public-facing sites (RICS surveyors doing site visits, architects doing site inspections), higher cover typical.
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