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Employer’s liability insurance is one of our optional covers
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Get a QuoteOur Employer’s Liability cover includes:
Employers’ liability insurance pays the compensation and legal costs if an employee is injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you. Unlike most business covers, this one isn’t a judgement call: UK law requires almost every business with staff to hold at least £5 million of cover from an authorised insurer, from the day the first employee starts.
Professional Saver makes the compliance part painless. Employers’ liability can be added to any of our policies as an optional cover, sitting alongside the public liability, products liability and legal expenses cover that comes as standard. Quote online in minutes, and your certificate is ready to download the same day.
Employers’ liability insurance covers your legal liability for workplace injuries and illnesses suffered by your staff. If an employee has an accident, develops a health condition through their work, or believes your failings caused them harm, the policy pays the compensation they’re awarded and the legal costs of the claim.
The duty comes from the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Under it, you must be covered for at least £5 million and your insurance provider must be authorised, which you can check on the Financial Conduct Authority register. In practice most policies, including ours, go well beyond the minimum. You’ll also see it written as employer liability insurance or just EL; the names vary, the legal duty doesn’t.
For professional firms, claims are rarely dramatic. Think of:
The illness cases matter as much as the accidents. A condition that builds over time can still be traced back to the work, and the claim lands with the employer.
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Trusted for over 40 years We’ve been providing insurance to businesses since 1984
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Our Professional Saver Insurance (Covea) has been independently rated 5 Stars by Defaqto – the highest possible rating, awarded to excellent products with a comprehensive range of features and benefits.
If you employ anyone, almost certainly yes, and the penalties for getting it wrong are blunt. You can be fined £2,500 for every day you’re not properly insured. You must also display your certificate where employees can access it (a noticeboard, your website or intranet all count) and show it to inspectors on request, or risk a further £1,000 fine.
The law allows two main exemptions:
Job titles don’t decide the rest; working arrangements do. Temporary staff and working partners can count as employees for insurance purposes, which is why our cover includes both. If you’re unsure whether someone you pay counts as an employee, it’s safer to raise it when you get your quote than to find out during a claim.
* Total number of live policies as of 31/10/2025
Our employers’ liability cover protects you against the costs that follow a work-related injury or illness claim, whether the employee is hurt in an accident or falls ill over time:
Our quotes include £10 million of employers’ liability cover, double the legal minimum, with no excess to pay on employers’ liability claims. That level of cover means the cost of compensation in even a serious case doesn’t threaten the business. It’s an optional cover rather than an automatic one, because plenty of the professionals we insure work alone; you add it the moment you stop being one of them.
The two covers answer for different people. Employers’ liability covers your staff; public liability insurance covers everyone else, including clients, visitors and members of the public. Only one of them is required by law, but most employers carry both at a level of cover that matches their contracts, because the same accident can happen to either group.
There’s also professional indemnity insurance for a third kind of claim: a client who loses money because of your advice or work. A firm with staff, clients and professional opinions will usually want all three, and with Professional Saver they fit inside one policy alongside optional extras like business contents and personal accident cover.
There’s no single price, because the premium follows your payroll: how many people you employ, what they do, your health and safety record, and your claims history. A two-person consultancy pays a very different premium from a firm running site inspections, and limited companies with several staff pay more than a firm with one part-timer.
What we can promise is transparency. Run a business insurance quote online, pick employers’ liability from the optional covers, and the price appears instantly, with monthly instalments available to spread the cost. As a guide, one of our real quote examples, a limited company with two employees, came out at £34.98 a month with £10 million of employers’ liability cover included alongside £5 million of public liability.
Taking on staff is a milestone; being fined £2,500 a day is a different kind of milestone. Get a quote online, add £10 million of employers’ liability cover to the same policy that protects the rest of your business, and your certificate is ready to display before your new employee’s first morning. If you’d rather talk it through first, we’re on 0800 121 8748, Monday to Friday.
From only£55per year From only£55per year From only£55per year From only£55per year 
From only£55per year You’re breaking the law from the first day an employee works for you, and the fine is up to £2,500 per day of being uninsured. The bigger financial risk is an employee who has to make a claim while you’re uninsured: you’d pay compensation for a serious workplace injury, plus legal costs, straight out of the business. For most small firms that’s an existential number, which is why the law removes the choice.
Usually not. A business that only employs close family members is exempt, unless staff fall outside that immediate family circle. The exemption is narrower than people expect though: take on one non-family employee, even part-time or temporary, and the duty applies to your whole workforce.
Yes. The insurance certificate must be accessible to your employees, which can mean a physical copy at the workplace or a digital one on your website or intranet, and you must show it to inspectors if asked. Not doing so risks a £1,000 fine. Your Professional Saver certificate is available to download from our online portal as soon as you’re covered.
Yes. Our cover extends to temporary staff and working partners as well as permanent employees, because the law looks at working arrangements rather than job titles. If someone works under your direction, they’re likely to count as an employee for insurance purposes regardless of what their contract calls them.
No, it’s an optional cover, and that’s deliberate: many of the professionals we insure are sole traders with no staff, and they shouldn’t pay for cover they don’t need. The moment you take someone on, you can add employers’ liability to your existing policy rather than buying a separate one.
