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 Cambridge?

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 · Cambridge

Employers liability insurance in Cambridge

Reviewed by Apex Insurance Brokers · Published 15 July 2026

Cambridge is the centre of "Silicon Fen" — one of Europe's densest clusters of technology and life-science firms, built around the university and its science parks — and employers' liability follows that research-and-office workforce. EL answers when an employee is injured or made ill by their work, and in Cambridge the distinctive exposure is the laboratory.

Where employers' liability claims come from in Cambridge

Life-science and biotech firms carry lab risk — biological and chemical exposure, sharps injuries, and handling of hazardous substances and gases. The technology and office employers bring the display-screen and stress profile. The university and colleges add estates and campus injury, and the tourism trade its lifting and lone-working claims. The employer carries each one.

A Cambridge example

A laboratory technician at a Cambridge biotech firm suffers a needlestick injury from an improperly discarded sharp, with the exposure risk and follow-up treatment that brings. Employers' liability covers the compensation and the legal defence — the sharps exposure that lab work carries and that procedure alone does not always prevent.

What employers' liability covers

Employers' liability responds to compensation and defence costs when work injures or sickens a member of staff, extending to former employees and to conditions and infections that emerge after exposure. Compulsory under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 for virtually every employer, it carries a £5m legal minimum, a £10m market standard, and a certificate that must be available for inspection.

Placing it in Cambridge with Apex

Apex is FCA-authorised (FRN 724952), trading since 2009, reaching over 30 markets including Lloyd's via wholesale. A Cambridge research employer gets a named broker who can rate laboratory and biological exposure properly, rather than a scheme written for an ordinary office.

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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 Cambridge and the wider region.

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