Last resort fund plans

Government proposals to set up a tracking service and fund of last resort for employees injured at work have received a mixed reaction from personal injury lawyers and insurers.

The Department of Work and Pensions last week set out plans to create an Employers’ Liability Tracing Office to help people track down the insurance policies of employers from yesteryear, and an Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB) to provide a fund of last resort for those who are unable to trace insurers.

The consultation, Accessing Compensation—Supporting People who Need to Trace Employers’ Liability Insurance, looks at how the tracing office could be managed and funded, and how much compensation could be paid. It also considers employers can do to ensure they meet their obligations to maintain employers’ liability compulsory insurance.

Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy at Thompsons Solicitors, which has campaigned for an ELIB, says: “This positive move is as welcome as it is overdue.”The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) called for all political parties to support the plans for an ELIB.

However, Nick Starling, the Association of British Insurers’ director of general insurance and health, says: “Over 98% of employers’ liability claimants are able to claim if they have suffered an injury or disease caused by their work, and insurers pay out £1.5bn a year in compensation.

“We are opposed in principle to the proposed ELIB. It cannot be right that today’s law-abiding employers should have to pay for their potentially uninsured competitors or firms that now no longer exist, and who may not have had insurance. Such a fund could also encourage some employers not to bother with insurance, or to take the health and safety of their employees less seriously.”