Do I need EL if I'm a sole trader with no staff?

No — EL is only required if you employ others.

What about my partner working in the business?

If your partner is an employee (even informally), EL is usually needed.

£5m is the legal minimum. £10m is commercial standard.

How much does EL cost in Brighton?

Employers' liability is rated on who you employ and what they do — wage roll, headcount, the trades involved, and how much of the work is on site, at height or around plant — together with the limit and excess you choose and your claims record. Two firms of the same size can price very differently, so we quote the actual risk rather than publish an average that would mislead at least one of them.

Employers liability · Brighton

Employers liability insurance in Brighton

Reviewed by Apex Insurance Brokers · Published 15 July 2026

Brighton runs on visitors and screens — a major seaside tourism and hospitality trade, a dense digital and creative cluster, and a busy conference sector — and employers' liability follows the people who staff them. EL answers when an employee is injured or made ill by their work, and in Brighton the exposure is mostly the hospitality floor and the events venue.

Where employers' liability claims come from in Brighton

Hospitality and tourism staff — across the seafront hotels, bars, restaurants and attractions — face burns, cuts, slips and lifting injuries, sharpened through summer and on event weekends. The conference trade around the Brighton Centre brings manual handling and work at height during get-ins and get-outs. The digital and creative studios add the display-screen and equipment-handling profile. The employer carries each claim, whatever the season.

A Brighton example

A venue technician setting up for a Brighton Centre conference falls from a ladder while rigging above a stage and fractures an ankle, off work through the event season. Employers' liability covers the compensation and the legal costs — the work-at-height exposure that events and venue employers cannot avoid rating.

What employers' liability covers

The cover meets an employer's legal liability for injury or illness that work causes to staff, and the cost of the defence, reaching former employees and conditions that surface later. It has been compulsory under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 for almost every employer; the law sets £5m, the market works to £10m, and the certificate must be produced on inspection.

Placing it in Brighton with Apex

Apex is FCA-authorised (firm reference 724952), established 2009, with access to more than 30 markets including Lloyd's through wholesale. A Brighton employer whose headcount rises with the season and the conference calendar gets a named broker who can rate seasonal and at-height exposure, not a flat scheme.

Speak to a Brighton commercial broker

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm reference number 724952. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. Trading address: QCS, 53 Queen Charlotte Street, Bristol BS1 4HQ · Serving businesses in Brighton and the wider region.

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