The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) is an industry body, founded by UK insurers in 2011, that runs a searchable database of employers’ liability insurance policies. Its purpose is to help someone who has suffered a work-related injury or illness, often years or decades later, trace which insurer covered their former employer, so they can bring a claim even if the employer no longer exists.
Why ELTO exists
Employers’ liability claims for disease, especially industrial illnesses like asbestos-related conditions, can surface many years after the exposure. By then the employer may have closed and the paperwork may be long gone. Without a way to find the insurer that was on risk at the time, an injured worker could have a valid claim and no one to claim against. ELTO’s database, which holds tens of millions of policies going back over a century, closes that gap.
What is the Employers’ Liability Database?
The ELD is the central record ELTO maintains. Insurers are required to submit their employers’ liability policy data to it, so claimants and their solicitors can search for the insurer that covered a particular employer for a particular period. ELTO describes its role as helping “people who have suffered a work-related illness or injury, or their legal representatives, quickly find the information they need to make a claim”.
What does this mean for my business?
If you employ staff, your employers’ liability insurer submits your policy details to the ELD as a matter of course; it is part of how the compulsory insurance system works. The practical point is that your EL cover is traceable long after the policy year ends, which is exactly the intention. It is one reason the certificate and its reference details matter, and why continuity of cover is worth keeping tidy.
How does ELTO relate to employers’ liability insurance?
ELTO is the tracing system that sits behind the compulsory cover. The cover itself is the legal requirement; ELTO is the mechanism that makes historic cover findable. See our guide to employers’ liability insurance requirements.
Getting cover in place
Solar Insurance Services can arrange employers’ liability insurance as part of a commercial programme, with the policy data feeding into the ELD as standard. Get in touch to discuss your cover.