Tracing Employers’ Liability Insurers

In the past, individuals who wanted to make a claim against a former employer in relation to injury or disease caused during their employment may have run into difficulties. This was largely due to the nature of industrial disease, such as asbestosis, which can take many years to show symptoms, by which time past employers may not be able to trace who was their Employers’ Liability insurer at the time.

The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office is an independent body that has been formed to aid the process of tracing the insurer for an employer by recording the details on its Employers’ Liability Database . The Employers’ Liability Database improves upon the previous tracing service which relied on insurers checking against their own records.

The Employers’ Liability Database will record:

• Details of new and renewed Employers’ Liability Insurance policies that commenced on or after 1 April, 2011.
• Old Employers’ Liability policies that have new claims recorded against them.
• Successful traces undertaken by its predecessor - the ABI.

The results from the search of the Employers’ Liability Database are not proof of insurance, or proof of liability. The Employers’ Liability Database will hold information against employers based on their unique Employers Reference Number - which will be identical to the PAYE reference number under which their employers’ income tax and national insurance contributions are made. Insurers may also hold this information independently.

Last reviewed 26/9/2011

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