Statutory Instrument
1998 No. 2573
The
Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Regulations 1998
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STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
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1998 No.
2573
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INSURANCE
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Regulations 1998
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Made |
13th
October 1998 |
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Laid
before Parliament |
27th
October 1998 |
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Coming
into force |
1st
January 1999 |
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The
Secretary of State, in exercise of his powers under
sections 1(2), 1(3)(a), 2(2), 3(1)(c), 4(1), (2) and
6 of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Act 1969[1]
(including those provisions as applied with any relevant
modifications and extensions by the Offshore Installations
and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations
1995[2]),
and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf,
hereby makes the following Regulations:-
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1. - (1)
These Regulations may be cited as the Employers' Liability
(Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998 and shall come
into force on 1st January 1999.
(2) In these Regulations-
"the 1969 Act" means the Employers'
Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969;
"associated structure" means, in relation
to an offshore installation, a vessel, aircraft or
hovercraft attendant on the installation or any floating
structure used in connection with the installation;
"company" has the same meaning as in
section 735 of the Companies Act 1985[3];
"inspector" means an inspector duly
authorised by the Secretary of State under section
4(2)(b) of the 1969 Act;
"offshore installation" has the same
meaning as in the Offshore Installations and Pipeline
Works (Management and Administration) Regulations
1995;
"relevant employee" means an employee-
(a) who is ordinarily resident in
the United Kingdom; or
(b) who, though not ordinarily resident in the United
Kingdom, has been employed on or from an offshore
installation or associated structure for a continuous
period of not less than 7 days; or
(c) who, though not ordinarily resident in Great Britain,
is present in Great Britain in the course of employment
for a continuous period of not less than 14 days;
and
"subsidiary" has the same meaning as
in section 736 of the Companies Act 1985.
Prohibition of certain conditions
in policies of insurance
2. - (1)
For the purposes of the 1969 Act[4],
there is prohibited in any contract of insurance any
condition which provides (in whatever terms) that
no liability (either generally or in respect of a
particular claim) shall arise under the policy, or
that any such liability so arising shall cease, if-
(a) some specified thing is done or
omitted to be done after the happening of the event
giving rise to a claim under the policy;
(b) the policy holder does not take reasonable care
to protect his employees against the risk of bodily
injury or disease in the course of their employment;
(c) the policy holder fails to comply with the requirements
of any enactment for the protection of employees against
the risk of bodily injury or disease in the course
of their employment; or
(d) the policy holder does not keep specified records
or fails to provide the insurer with or make available
to him information from such records.
(2) For the
purposes of the 1969 Act there is also prohibited
in a policy of insurance any condition which requires-
(a) a relevant employee to pay; or
(b) an insured employer to pay the relevant employee,
the first amount of any claim or any aggregation of
claims.
(3) Paragraphs
(1) and (2) above do not prohibit for the purposes
of the 1969 Act a condition in a policy of insurance
which requires the employer to pay or contribute any
sum to the insurer in respect of the satisfaction
of any claim made under the contract of insurance
by a relevant employee or any costs and expenses incurred
in relation to any such claim.
Limit of amount of compulsory insurance
3. - (1)
Subject to paragraph (2) below, the amount for which
an employer is required by the 1969 Act to insure
and maintain insurance in respect of relevant employees
under one or more policies of insurance shall be,
or shall in aggregate be not less than £5 million
in respect of-
(a) a claim relating to any one or
more of those employees arising out of any one occurrence;
and
(b) any costs and expenses incurred in relation to
any such claim.
(2) Where
an employer is a company with one or more subsidiaries,
the requirements of paragraph (1) above shall be taken
to apply to that company with any subsidiaries together,
as if they were a single employer.
Issue of certificates of insurance
4. - (1)
Every authorised insurer who enters into a contract
of insurance with an employer in accordance with the
1969 Act shall issue the employer with a certificate
of insurance in the form, and containing the particulars,
set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.
(2) The certificate shall
be issued by the insurer not later than thirty days
after the date on which the insurance commences or
is renewed.
(3) Where a contract of insurance
for the purposes of the 1969 Act is entered into together
with one or more other contracts of insurance which
jointly provide insurance cover of no less than £5
million, the certificate shall specify both-
(a) the amount in excess of which
insurance cover is provided by the policy; and
(b) the maximum amount of that cover.
(4) An employer
shall retain each certificate issued to him under
this regulation, or a copy of each such certificate,
for a period of 40 years beginning on the date on
which the insurance to which it relates commences
or is renewed.
(5) Where the employer is
a company, retaining in any eye readable form a copy
of a certificate in any one of the ways authorised
by sections 722 and 723 of the Companies Act 1985
shall count as keeping a copy of it for the purposes
of paragraph (4) above.
(6) In any case where it is
intended that a contract of insurance for the purposes
of the 1969 Act is to be effective, not only in Great
Britain, but also-
(a) in Northern Ireland, the Isle
of Man, the Island of Guernsey, the Island of Jersey
or the Island of Alderney;
(b) in any waters outside the United Kingdom to which
the 1969 Act may have been applied by any enactment,
the form set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations
may be modified by a reference to the relevant law
which is applicable and a statement that the policy
to which it relates satisfies the requirements of
that law.
Display and production of copies
of certificates of insurance
5. - (1)
Subject to paragraph (4) below, an employer who has
been issued with a certificate in accordance with
regulation 4 above shall display one or more copies
of it, in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3) below,
at each place of business at which he employs any
relevant employee of the class or description to which
such certificate relates.
(2) Any relevant certificate
which is required to be displayed in accordance with
paragraph (1) above, shall be displayed in such number
and in such positions and be of such size and legibility
that they may be easily seen and read by any relevant
employees, and shall be reasonably protected from
being defaced or damaged.
(3) Copies of a certificate
which are required to be displayed in accordance with
paragraph (1) above shall be kept on display until
the date of expiry or earlier termination of the approved
policy mentioned in the certificate.
(4) The requirements of paragraphs
(1), (2) and (3) above do not apply where an employer
employs a relevant employee on or from an offshore
installation or associated structure, but in such
a case the employer shall produce, at the request
of that employee and within the period of ten days
from such request, a copy of the certificate which
relates to that employee.
Production of certificates of insurance to an Inspector
6. An
employer who is required by a written notice issued
by an inspector to do so shall produce or send to
any person specified in the notice, at the address
and within the time specified in the notice-
(a) either the original or a copy
of every certificate issued to him under regulation
4 above which relates to a period of insurance current
at the date of issue of the notice;
(b) either the original or a copy of every certificate
issued to him under regulation 4 above and retained
by him in accordance with regulation 4(4) above.
Inspection of policies of insurance
7. Where
a certificate is required to be issued to an employer
in accordance with regulation 4 above, the employer
shall during the currency of the insurance permit
the policy of insurance or a copy of it to be inspected
by an inspector-
(a) at such reasonable time as the
inspector may require;
(b) at such place of business of the employer (which,
in the case of an employer who is a company, may include
its registered office) as the inspector may require.
Production by inspectors of evidence
of authority
8. Any
inspector shall, if so required when visiting any
premises for the purposes of the 1969 Act, produce
to an employer or his agent some duly authenticated
document showing that he is authorised by the Secretary
of State under section 4(2)(b) of the 1969 Act.
Employers exempted from insurance
9. - (1)
The employers specified in Schedule 2 to these Regulations
are exempted from the requirement of the 1969 Act
to insure and maintain insurance.
(2) The exemption applies
to all cases to which that requirement would otherwise
apply, except that for the employers specified in
paragraphs 1, 12, 13 and 14 it applies only so far
as is mentioned in those paragraphs.
Revocations and transitional
10.
- (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3)
below, the instruments specified in column 1 of Schedule
3 to these Regulations are hereby revoked to the extent
specified in column 3 of that Schedule.
(2) Subject to paragraphs
(4) and (5) below, in the case of an insurance policy
commenced before, and current at, 1st January 1999,
regulations 2 to 6 of, and the Schedule to, the 1971
Regulations shall continue to apply, instead of regulations
2 to 6 of, and Schedule 1 to, these Regulations, until
the expiry or renewal of the policy or until 1st January
2000, whichever is the earlier.
(3) The certificate required
to be issued by regulation 4(1) of these Regulations
in respect of insurance commenced or renewed on or
after 1st January 1999 but before 1st April 1999 may,
instead of being in the prescribed form, be in the
form and contain the particulars specified in the
Schedule to the 1971 Regulations.
(4) Every authorised insurer
who has issued a certificate in the form, and containing
the particulars, specified in the Schedule to the
1971 Regulations in respect of insurance current at
1st April 2000 shall replace it by that date with
a certificate in the prescribed form and the replacement
shall then be the relevant certificate for the purposes
of regulation 5 of these Regulations.
(5) The certificates to which
regulation 4(4) of these Regulations applies include
any certificate of which a copy is required to be
displayed or maintained by regulation 6(1) of the
1971 Regulations immediately before 1st January 1999,
and any such certificate shall be treated for the
purposes of regulation 6 of these Regulations as having
been issued under regulation 4 of these Regulations.
(6) Regulation 7 of these
Regulations applies where a certificate is required,
in accordance with paragraph (2) above, to be issued
in accordance with the 1971 Regulations as it applies
where a certificate is required to be issued in accordance
with regulation 4 of these Regulations.
(7) In this regulation-
"in the prescribed form" means in the
form, and containing the particulars, required by
regulation 4(1) and (3) of, and Schedule 1 to, these
Regulations;
"the 1971 Regulations" means the Employers'
Liability (Compulsory Insurance) General Regulations
1971[5]
as in force on 31st December 1998, including those
Regulations as applied by the Employers' Liability
(Compulsory Insurance) (Offshore Installations) Regulations
1975[6].
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State
Alan Meale
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department
of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
13th October 1998
SCHEDULE 1
Regulation 4
"
CERTIFICATE OF EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY
INSURANCE(a)
(Where required by regulation 5
of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Regulations 1998 (the Regulations), one or more copies
of this certificate must be displayed at each place
of business at which the policy holder employs persons
covered by the policy)
Policy No
1. Name of policy
holder.
2. Date of commencement
of insurance policy.
3. Date of expiry
of insurance policy.
We hereby certify that subject to paragraph 2:-
1. the policy to which
this certificate relates satisfies the requirements
of the relevant law applicable in [Great Britain](b);
and
2. (a)
the minimum amount of cover provided by this policy
is no less than £5 million(c); or
(b) the cover provided under
this policy relates to claims in excess of [£ ]
but not exceeding [£ ].
Signed on behalf of
(Authorised Insurer)
Signature
Notes
(a) Where the employer is a company to which
regulation 3(2) of the Regulations applies, the certificate
shall state in a prominent place, either that the
policy covers the holding company and all its subsidiaries,
or that the policy covers the holding company and
all its subsidiaries except any specifically excluded
by name, or that the policy covers the holding company
and only the named subsidiaries.
(b) Specify applicable law as provided for
in regulation 4(6) of the Regulations.
(c) See regulation 3(1) of the Regulations
and delete whichever of paragraphs 2(a) or 2(b) does
not apply. Where 2(b) is applicable, specify the amount
of cover provided by the relevant policy."
SCHEDULE 2
Regulation 9
EMPLOYERS EXEMPTED FROM INSURANCE
1. A person who for
the time being holds a current certificate issued
by a government department stating that claims established
against that person in respect of any liability to
such employees of the kind mentioned in section 1(1)
of the 1969 Act as are mentioned in the certificate
will, to any extent to which they are incapable of
being satisfied by that person, be satisfied out of
money provided by Parliament; but only in respect
of employees covered by the certificate.
2. The Government
of any foreign state or Commonwealth country.
3. Any inter-governmental
organisation which by virtue of any enactment is to
be treated as a body corporate.
4. Any subsidiary
of any such body as is mentioned in section 3(1)(b)
of the 1969 Act (which exempts any body corporate
established by or under any enactment for the carrying
on of any industry or part of an industry, or of any
undertaking, under national ownership or control)
and any company of which two or more such bodies are
members and which would, if those bodies were a single
corporate body, be a subsidiary of that body corporate.
5. Any Passenger Transport
Executive[7]
and any subsidiary thereof.
6. London Regional
Transport[8],
and any of its subsidiaries or joint subsidiaries
within the meaning of section 51(5) of the Transport
Act 1968[9].
7. The Commission
for the New Towns[10].
8. The Qualifications
and Curriculum Authority[11].
9. Any voluntary management
committee of an approved bail or approved probation
hostel within the meaning of the Probation Service
Act 1993[12].
10. Any magistrates'
courts committee established under the Justices of
the Peace Act 1997[13].
11. Any probation
committee established under the Probation Service
Act 1993.
12. Any employer who
is a member of a mutual insurance association of shipowners
or of shipowners and others, in respect of any liability
to an employee of the kind mentioned in section 1(1)
of the 1969 Act against which the employer is insured
for the time being with that association for an amount
not less than that required by the 1969 Act and regulations
under it, being an employer who holds a certificate
issued by that association to the effect that he is
so insured in relation to that employee.
13. Any licensee within
the meaning of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965[14],
in respect of any liability to pay compensation under
that Act to any of his employees in respect of a breach
of duty imposed on him by virtue of section 7 of that
Act[15].
14. Any employer to
the extent he is required to insure and maintain insurance
by subsection (1) of section 1 of the 1969 Act against
liability for bodily injury sustained by his employee
when the employee is-
(i) carried in or upon a vehicle;
or
(ii) entering or getting on to, or alighting from,
a vehicle, in the circumstances specified in that
subsection and where that bodily injury is caused
by or, arises out of, the use by the employer of a
vehicle on a road; and the expression "road", "use"
and "vehicle" have the same meanings as in Part VI
of the Road Traffic Act 1988[16].
SCHEDULE 3
Regulation 10
REVOCATIONS OF INSTRUMENTS
| 1 |
2 |
3 |
| Reference |
Title |
Extent of revocation |
| S.I. 1971/1117 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) General Regulations 1971 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1971/1933 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) Exemption Regulations 1971 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1974/208 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations 1974 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1975/194 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations 1975 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1975/1443 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) (Offshore Installations) Regulations
1975 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1981/1489 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations 1981 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1992/3172 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) Exemption (Amendment) Regulations 1992 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1994/520 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) Exemption (Amendment) Regulations 1994 |
The whole Regulations |
| S.I. 1994/3301 |
The Employers' Liability (Compulsory
Insurance) General (Amendment) Regulations 1994 |
The whole Regulations |
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations
consolidate with amendments the Employers' Liability
(Compulsory Insurance) General Regulations 1971 (the
1971 Regulations) and subsequent amending regulations
made under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Act 1969 (the 1969 Act).
The Regulations supplement the provisions of the 1969
Act relating to the compulsory insurance of risks relating
to employees. Regulation 1 contains certain definitions
and regulation 2 sets out the conditions which are prohibited
for the purposes of the 1969 Act in any policy of insurance
relating to employees. Regulation 3 sets the limit of
the sum to be insured as not less than five million
pounds. Regulation 4 and Schedule 1 place obligations
on authorised insurers as to the issue of certificates
including the form of certificates. Regulation 4 also
imposes obligations on employers in relation to keeping
certificates. Regulations 5 and 6 deal with the display
and production of certificates of insurance. Regulation
7 deals with the production and inspection of policies
of insurance. Regulation 8 imposes a condition on authorised
inspectors to produce evidence of their authority if
so required when visiting employers' premises. Regulation
9 and Schedule 2 exempt certain classes of employer
from the requirements of the 1969 Act. They are principally
bodies issued with certificates of exemption by government
departments, foreign and Commonwealth governments and
certain public bodies. It also exempts employers to
the extent that they are required to insure under a
compulsory motor insurance scheme by virtue of the fact
that their employees are carried on, or are alighting
from or are entering into, a vehicle. Regulation 10
and Schedule 3 set out revocations and transitional
arrangements. These include arrangements for provisions
of the 1971 Regulations to continue to apply to pre-1st
January 1999 policies until 1st January 2000 or earlier
expiry or renewal; and for enabling the form of certificate
under the 1971 Regulations to be used for pre-1st April
1999 policies until 1st April 2000 at the latest.
The principal changes made by the Regulations are:-
-that the sum to be insured is raised
from not less than two million pounds to not less
than five million pounds;
-the prescribed wording on the certificates
gives more information about the cover provided;
-a new provision that certificates
are required to be kept for forty years;
-a new power is given to authorised
inspectors to require not just the production of the
current certificate but also the production of past
certificates, and
-employers of offshore employees are
required to produce a copy of the relevant certificate
of insurance on request from the employee within ten
days.
A regulatory impact assessment ("RIA")
of the impact of these Regulations on business and
other organisations has been prepared and is available
from Health and Safety Sponsorship Division, DETR,
Zone 1/C3, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London SW1E
5DU.
The text of this Internet version of the Statutory
Instrument which is published by the Queen's Printer
of Acts of Parliament has been prepared to reflect
the text as it was Made. A print version is also available
and is published by The Stationery Office Limited
as the The Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance)
Regulations 1998, ISBN 0 11 079725 6. Braille copies
of this Statutory Instrument can also be purchased
at the same price as the print edition by contacting
TSO Customer Services on 0870 600 5522 or e-mail:customer.services@tso.co.uk.
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