Anyone in business will know, that if you employ people, you need to have adequate employers liability insurance in force. When we say adequate, it has to be for a minimum limit of indemnity of £5,000,000 any one loss and the cover has to be provided by an insurer approved to trade in the UK.
This cover has been formed over many years, and can trace it’s roots back to the Employers Liability Act (1968). The legislation states that anyone, and we repeat anyone, who works for a business must be covered under the EL section of the business insurance policy.
It is immaterial whether they are paid, volunteers, directors on dividends or even family and friends helping out. If they are injured, and you or the business have been negligent, you may face a claim.
But what happens when you have a school age child on a work placement? The old YTS scheme has been replaced by a myriad of different arrangements and most school children around the age of 15, will be offered some sort of one or two week placement with a local firm.
Within your policy wording, it will state exactly what an employee is. There will be a paragraph that contains all of the different types of employee. If you are taking on a placement, the local authority or maybe the school, will ask that you prove cover.
You have a couple of choices here, either speak to your broker to get them to send a proof of cover letter, or you can copy the relevant parts of your policy wording and/or schedule, which shows that these children are covered.