Employers Liability Insurance - Volunteers and Voluntary Organisations

Often charities and voluntary organisations state that they do not require Employers Liability cover. The reasons given are varied but include:

- We do not have any paid staff;

- There is too much paperwork involved if we have this cover;

- We only have volunteers;

- My Insurer says the volunteers are covered on the public liability policy.

Q. Are the volunteers covered by a public liability policy?
A. No. As they are not third parties, i.e. they are actually carrying out some work for the organisation, they are excluded from cover on a Public Liability policy. The following exclusion is likely: Injury to "Employees". The definition of "Employee" includes "authorised voluntary worker".

Q. Do we need Employers Liability Insurance?
A. Legally you must have this cover if you have Employees.

- Volunteers who do the work for your organisation are still owed a duty of care under health and safety laws.

- If a volunteer is injured as a result of your negligence whilst carrying out voluntary activities, you could end up with a claim against the group.

- If you do not have Employers Liability cover, a successful claim may have to be met by the organisation, its trustees or committee members with possibly disastrous financial consequences for those involved.

Employers Liability Insurance - Our Recommendation

Our recommendation is that Employers Liability cover is essential protection. This need not be expensive and does not involve added paperwork.

Please call our charity insurance team on 0845 257 1355 or submit an enquiry on-line here.