Changes In ELCI Certificates Rules

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) has confirmed changes in the rules for employers' liability compulsory insurance (ELCI) certificates.

As of 1 October 2008, such certificates can now be displayed electronically, as long as employees have reasonable access to the electronic format.

The changes also mean there is now no legal requirement for employers to keep copies of out-of-date ELCI certificates for 40 years.

However, the BERR strongly advises employers to keep detailed records of ELCI policies. This is because certain diseases can appear many years after a person was exposed to their cause and former or current employees may decide to make a claim against the employer for the period they were exposed to the cause of their illness. If employers fail to keep details of historic insurance details, they place the business at risk of having to meet the costs of such claims.

The BERR is also keen to point out that the changes in no way alter the legal requirement for qualifying employers to hold employers' liability insurance.

Similarly, the requirement to display a copy of the certificate of insurance where employees can easily read it is unchanged. However, from 1 October 2008, employers will also be allowed to display ELCI certificates electronically so long as the employees covered by the insurance have reasonable access to them in that form.

Therefore, if employers choose to use electronic rather than paper display formats, they need to make sure that all the employees know how and where to find the certificate.

Further information about the changes can be accessed at here

Source: Croner's