Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Recruitment & retentionTemporary employment

Are you liable for temporary workers?

by Personnel Today 2 Jun 2009
by Personnel Today 2 Jun 2009

Employment and recruitment agencies must protect themselves against legal liability for accidents that occur whilst placing temporary workers.

Experts at insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson say members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation must, from the outset, clearly state which party is liable if a claim is made.

Where standard REC terms of business are used your exposure will be limited, as these contract conditions should deflect claims back to the hirer or employer of the worker.

Gary Chambers, Regional Managing Director of Professional Risks for JLT, said:

“It has always been my recommendation that members use the services offered by the REC to set up their standard terms of business contracts”.

“The act of signing non-standard contracts without considering the insurance implications could leave your business seriously exposed. 

“Often these contracts can make you liable for losses which are either caused or suffered by a temporary worker, and you will need to arrange cover for Employers and Public Liability to cover the specific contract terms”.

JLT would advise that you consider the following prior to signing any non-standard contracts:

Make sure that all non standard contracts are forwarded to your broker if your policy terms and conditions insist that this is necessary.

Even if this is not the case, your broker should give you clear guidance on the insurance clauses and advise you on any possible differences between the contract requirements and your existing insurance cover.

Insurance brokers are not qualified legal advisors and can only compare the contracts liability clauses against your insurance cover, so it is always recommended that you seek professional legal advice on any contractual agreements.

Insurers use statements such as “the non standard contract is covered, subject to your standard policy terms and conditions”. Beware, this probably means that you are only being given cover based on your existing policy wording, and any contractual obligations with regards to insurance may be excluded, leaving your business to foot the bill.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Contractual liability cover can extend your insurances for Employers and Public Liability to include legal liability assumed under contract. The extent of the cover provided by each insurer will vary, and it is recommended that you speak to your broker to discuss any limitations.

Gary added: “We are all aware of the current financial situation. The everyday pressures of running a business are more than enough without being left uninsured and fighting expensive legal battles.”

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
HR professionals must adapt faster to changing business environment
next post
Insala and Reconet release the Talent Acquisition Network as Centrepiece of Joint Partnership

You may also like

Graduate jobs this summer ‘will be toughest since...

25 Jun 2025

Employers struggling with soaring candidate deception

25 Jun 2025

UK engineering and manufacturing firms face hiring struggles

23 Jun 2025

Aldi to hire for 1,000 new supermarket roles

23 Jun 2025

Only a third of recruiters receive high-quality job...

20 Jun 2025

Number of new nurses from abroad falls by...

18 Jun 2025

Pensions regulator: make sure summer staff don’t miss...

18 Jun 2025

Capita rolls out ‘agentic AI’ to speed up...

13 Jun 2025

Redundancies boost candidate availability at fastest pace since...

13 Jun 2025

Healthdaq: Shaking up health and social care recruitment

11 Jun 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+