Employers Liability Insurance - This type of insurance was made compulsory by the Employers Liability Protection Act of 1969 and covers almost all employees. The definition of an employee is very wide and can include volunteers, persons on work experience from schools and persons borrowed or hired from other companies. The law also lays down a minimum amount of cover required which at the present moment is £5,000,000 although it is the usual practice of most insurers to provide £10,000,000 cover. As claims arising under this type of cover can take a while to manifest, you are required to keep certificates of Employers Liability for a period of 40(forty) years after they have expired.  The act also requires that you obtain a certificate of Employers Liability from your insurers and display it where it can been seen by your employees, failure to display a certificate can lead to a £1000 fine.

The object of the Employers Liability Insurance and the Act is to make sure that employees are adequately covered in the event of a claim for negligence against an employer. The Act forbids insurers from withholding claims money from an employee in the event of a a breech of policy conditions and in this happens, they may well seek to obtain reimbursement of their outlay from you the policyholder.  Almost anyone that employs staff will require this type of cover, you may run a business or be a self employed Tradesperson with employees. In the case of a business with premises, it is usual to obtain Employers Liability cover as part of a package of other insurance covers. If you are self employed with no premises, you should be able to obtain cover as an add on to a Public Liability Policy.  Recently a change in the law (28th February 2005) has meant that directors of limited companies where they are the only employee no longer require to effect employers liability cover.
 

Public Liability Insurance - Public Liability Insurance provides cover for business and individuals against any legal liability incurred for bodily injury to Third Parties or damage to their property. It is usual to provide cover in relation to the business actives as stated in the schedule of insurance,. Injuries caused by an individual not acting in the course of their business may possibly be covered under the Personal Liability section of a Home Insurance Policy.

Although this type of insurance is not compulsory, if you run a business, it would be foolhardy to trade without it. If you run a shop, someone could become injured on your premises and may decided to claim against you for damages. If you are a self employed Trades person, you may damage or injure someone in the course of your work.
 

Professional Indemnity Insurance - This type of policy is designed to protect professionals providing advice such as Insurance Brokers, accountants, surveyors, solicitors etc against negligence for any liability incurred following incorrect or misleading advice.
For a claim to be made against you under this type of insurance, the claimant must be able to demonstrate that the advice given was not up the standards usually available from the given profession