Employers' Liability Insurance for Event Hosts

What is employers' liability insurance?

Employers' liability insurance covers claims made by people working for you who are injured or become ill as a result of their work. If a volunteer trips while setting up stalls and breaks their wrist, or a helper injures their back carrying tables, EL insurance covers the cost of the claim.

Key facts:

• It is required by law under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.
• The minimum cover is £5 million (most policies provide this as standard).
• It is a criminal offence to employ people without EL insurance. The fine can be up to £2,500 for each day you are without cover.
• You must display your EL certificate where employees can easily read it, or make it available electronically.

The volunteer question

This is where most craft fair hosts get caught out. Under insurance and employment law definitions, "employees" typically includes a much wider group than just people on your payroll:

• Paid staff: obviously covered.
• Temporary or casual workers: someone you hire for the day to help at the event.
• Volunteers: people who help for free, but under your direction.
• Work experience placements: students or young people gaining experience at your event.
• Family members who help out, unless they live with you (some exemptions may apply for close family members in sole trader businesses).

The test is whether these people are working under your direction and control. If you are telling them what to do, where to be, and how to do it, they are likely to be treated as employees for insurance purposes, regardless of whether they are paid.

The safest approach: if anyone is helping at your event under your direction, assume you need EL insurance.

Employers' liability at craft fairs and markets

Craft fairs run on helping hands, which is exactly where employers' liability questions arise. If you are a stallholder and a friend or family member regularly minds your stall, takes payments, or helps you set up under your instructions, they may be treated as an employee for insurance purposes even though they are unpaid. A sole trader working their market stall alone does not need EL insurance, and close family members who live with you may fall within the narrow family exemption, but a friend helping out on your stall does not. If in doubt, ask your craft insurance provider: adding EL cover to an existing public liability policy is usually inexpensive.

For organisers, the position is broader still. Stewards, gate staff, car park marshals, and set-up crews working under your direction at a fair will often be treated as employees for insurance purposes, whether they are paid or volunteering, so the safest assumption is that you need EL cover in place before the day.

There is also a booking angle. Many craft fair organisers ask stallholders for proof of insurance as part of the booking process. This is usually public liability cover, but if you bring staff or helpers to events, some organisers and venues will want evidence of employers' liability cover too. Keeping a copy of your certificate with your booking documents saves time when an organiser asks.

Who is exempt?

There are limited exemptions from the EL insurance requirement:

• Sole traders with no employees (not even volunteers or helpers) do not need EL insurance.
• Some family businesses where the only employees are close family members who live with the business owner may be exempt, but this exemption is narrow and should not be relied upon without checking.
• Certain incorporated companies with only one employee who owns 50% or more of the share capital may be exempt.

For most event hosts, the moment someone, anyone, is helping you run the event, the exemptions do not apply. The cost of EL insurance is low enough that it is not worth testing the boundaries.

How much does it cost?

Employers' liability insurance for event hosts is typically purchased as an add-on to public liability insurance:

• Specialist craft insurance providers such as CMTIA charge approximately £32.50 on top of the standard craft insurance premium, bringing the total to around £101.50 per year for combined public liability and employers' liability at £5 million.
• Event-specific EL policies are available from event insurance providers if you only host one or two events a year.
• If you already have public liability insurance, adding EL cover is usually straightforward: contact your insurer and ask about adding it to your existing policy.

Given that the annual cost is modest and the penalty for non-compliance is a daily fine plus criminal liability, there is no good reason to operate without it if you have helpers.

Practical steps for event hosts

• Before your event, count the number of people who will be helping you, including volunteers, friends, and family.
• If the answer is one or more, arrange employers' liability insurance.
• Display or make available your EL certificate; your venue may ask to see it as part of the hire agreement.
• Keep a record of who is helping at each event and in what capacity. This is good practice for both insurance and health and safety purposes.
• Make sure your helpers know what to do if they are injured: who to report to, where the first aid kit is, and how to record the incident.

If you are already buying public liability insurance through a craft insurance provider, adding employers' liability is usually just a tick-box on the application form.