Liabilities

[xara]

Just thrashing out terms of contract with agent.

The liabilities section stipulates that I should have pro indemnity, employers' and public liability, 'and all other required insurance'. Given the nature of the contract, which I can do from home, and the fact that I am currently a one-man band, agent is happy to leave out the explicit requirement for employers' and public liability (i.e. and fold it into 'all other required insurance'). Any gotchas on this? I.e. even if I am currently solo is it worth getting the employers' liability to show that I am actively considering the possibility of having employees or a co-director (and in due course using them as substitutes).

[BolshieBastard]

Just thrashing out terms of contract with agent.

The liabilities section stipulates that I should have pro indemnity, employers' and public liability, 'and all other required insurance'. Given the nature of the contract, which I can do from home, and the fact that I am currently a one-man band, agent is happy to leave out the explicit requirement for employers' and public liability (i.e. and fold it into 'all other required insurance'). Any gotchas on this? I.e. even if I am currently solo is it worth getting the employers' liability to show that I am actively considering the possibility of having employees or a co-director (and in due course using them as substitutes).

Employers liability isnt a legal requirement unless you have 2 or more employees.

I always have PI and PL insurance. Your current contract may all be done from home but what if you need to attend client site for a day or so periodically? Will your next contract all be done from home?

[northernladuk]

PI/PL is £240 a year from QDOS including 3 free contract reviews... Why are you even worrying about it for that amount of money?

[xara]

Employers liability isnt a legal requirement unless you have 2 or more employees.

I always have PI and PL insurance. Your current contract may all be done from home but what if you need to attend client site for a day or so periodically? Will your next contract all be done from home?

I was thinking that in the event that a client meeting came up or a non-home based contract, I could buy public insurance at that juncture.

[xara]

PI/PL is £240 a year from QDOS including 3 free contract reviews... Why are you even worrying about it for that amount of money?

I'm not worrying, it made me go away and dig into whether public liability applied, or whether this contractual liability clause had just been cut and pasted. QDOS sell a number of other low-priced products but I won't just buy them all on the basis of their cheapness, if they don't apply.

[Ketchup]

The cost of EL insurance has increased a lot recently as a new bit of legislation into tracking EL policies. The costs of the work involved with collating and passing the data to ELTO are being passed on to the consumer

[SueEllen]

I was thinking that in the event that a client meeting came up or a non-home based contract, I could buy public insurance at that juncture.

It tends to be cheaper to buy PL as an add-on to other insurance rather than separately.

[Wanderer]

The liabilities section stipulates that I should have pro indemnity, employers' and public liability, 'and all other required insurance'. Given the nature of the contract, which I can do from home, and the fact that I am currently a one-man band, agent is happy to leave out the explicit requirement for employers' and public liability (i.e. and fold it into 'all other required insurance'). Any gotchas on this?

There is no legal requirement for any of these insurances, the only reason you would have to have them is that the agency say you do. As you say, having them in place is a minor pointer to being in business if you are ever investigated for IR35 so it may be worth having them for that alone. They don't cost all that much and you can get the whole lot bundled together and get on with running your business.

[malvolio]

Worth noting that ELI doesn't only cover employees, it covers anyone under your control. So if you have an RoS and want it to be genuine you should have ELI in place. PI applies no matter where you're working since it's to do with your deliverables. PLI is the optional one, but should you drop a client's laptop you may find it handy...

But as I keep saying, for the trivial cost of having the cover against the value of the average contract, it defeats me why people make a fuss about it.

[Contreras]

Lack of ELI clearly does not invalidate the RoS clause in your contract because:

- You can take out ELI at the point which it is needed.
- If the subbie is another contractor they are not your employee.

More details here:

Employers' liability insurance | Business Link

and here:

Insurance and contractual issues when using contractors and subcontractors | Business Link

... as I keep saying, IMHO, etc.