 
 
Compare Recruitment Consultants Professional Indemnity and Liability insurance
Recruitment is vital to the growth of the UK Economy. Over 90% of business use a recruitment or employment agency, and at any one time there are more than a 1,000,000 agency workers employed in temporary roles across various sectors such as construction, haulage or financial services.
Clarke Williams are specialist insurance brokers for Professional Indemnity and Liability insurance to the recruitment and employment industry.
We understand how employment has changed in the UK, and how recruitment consultants need to be flexible in what they do to accommodate the ever-growing demand. We can tailor insurance policies to fit your needs and comply with your clients’ contracts.
Professional Indemnity Insurance covers your business in respect of any incorrect advice or perceived failures in your professional services when placing a permanent or temporary candidate. It will cover your legal defence cost as well as any third-party damages, should you be found negligent.
Public and Public Liability Insurance covers you for any bodily injury or property damage which arises during your day today activities, such as visiting a client’s premise. Depending on your clients’ contracts you may also be required to cover the actions of any temporary placements. This is sometimes known as Vicarious Liability. If you think that you need this, the insurers will most likely need to see a copy of your contracts to see what you are potentially liable for.
Employers’ Liability Insurance. It is a legal requirement for all employers within the UK to hold Employers Liability Insurance. The cover has a minimum limit of £5,000,000 and will meet the cost of compensation for your employees’ injuries or illness sustained as a result of their working activities, whether caused on or off site.
Employers Liability is traditionally designed to cover an employer’s workers, that said sometimes recruitment agencies may become responsible for their temporary placements in certain situations.
You may need Employers’ Liability Insurance for someone who works for you where:
- You deduct national insurance and income tax from the money you pay them
- You have the right to control where and when they work and how they do it
- You supply their work materials and equipment
- Your contract states that you are responsible for their actions and supervision
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Additional covers you might need
Drivers Negligence
Drivers Negligence is an extension to Public Liability, which provides cover for damage sustained to an agencies clients’ vehicles, when the driver supplied by the recruitment agency has been at fault and caused damage. Drivers Negligence is designed to cover accidents, such as a driver reversing into a wall or bollard, or where the vehicle has struck an object whilst driving. Generally,cover is only available for agencies supplying LGV or HGV drivers. However, we do have markets that can provide cover for freelance drivers. The limits available for this cover range from £5,000 to £15,000 and we can accommodate young or inexperienced drivers.
Vicarious Liability
Vicarious Liability refers to a situation where someone, possibly an employer, is held responsible for the actions or omissions of another person. In the work place,many employers or recruitment agencies are unaware that they can be liable for a range of actions committed by their employees or placements during their employment. These can include harassment, violence acts, theft of company property or even breach of copyright.
Vicarious Liability will generally be excluded from the Professional Indemnity, Public Liability and Employers Liability sections of an insurance policy but we have access to several specialist markets that can provide this cover within their wordings.
Depending on your clients’ contracts, you may also be required to cover the actions of any temporary placements. Typically, Vicarious Liability is required for contracts within construction, domiciliary care or medical industries, where the employment status of a placement can become complicated. If you think that you need this type of extension, insurers will most likely need to see a copy of your contracts to see what you are, and are not potentially liable for.
Call 01732 252 898 or email us today for a comprehensive insurance policy at a competitive price.
The best way for us to understand your business and get the best premium back from the market is for you to complete our proposal form. If you have already completed a proposal form, please feel free to send a copy to info@clarkewilliams.co.uk
Alternatively if you renewal is not due yet, register with us now so that we can contact you nearer the time.
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Our account managers will arrange Professional Indemnity and Liability policies at a competitive price with comprehensive wordings, which are acceptable to your clients or Professional Body.
Have confidence that Clarke Williams can help your business.
Here are a few of examples of specialist fields within the recruitment industry that we have helped provide business insurance for:
Driving agencies
With a shortage of HGV and LGV drivers, there is a constant demand for supply of professional drivers from logistics and haulage companies. Most contracts will usually state that the agency is required to hold Drivers Negligence Insurance, which covers the agency against any own vehicle damage sustained by the temporary drivers they supply. Our policies can be arranged for agencies providing 20 drivers to 200 plus at any one time. Generally, this cover is only available for agencies supplying LGV or HGV drivers, however we do have markets that can provide cover for freelance drivers. The limits available for this range from £5,000 to £15,000 and we can accommodate young or inexperienced drivers. If you have a driving desk and want to talk about your renewal, give us a call.
Domiciliary Care Agencies
With an aging population, the need for domiciliary carers and care homes is ever increasing. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to hear in the news of an individual providing incorrect care, which is why it’s important that your business is covered for any allegations of wrong doing by a temporary agency carer supplied to one of your clients. A Professional Indemnity and Liability insurance policy will cover any potential compensation to third parties, but, more importantly your legal costs in defending any action. Our insurance policies can be arranged to cover high contractual liability limits required by local authorities or private trusts, as well as the option to include cover for liability arising from the overseeing and taking of prescription and non-prescription drugs.
Industrial and Construction Agencies
Sometimes skilled labour can be hard to come by, especially when it may only be required for a specific contract or a limited amount of time. From the supply of construction workers to machine operators and baggage handlers, we’ve helped clients get the right cover for their agency. Employments agencies that supply labour in the industrial and construction industries can be exposed to more than they realise, especially when they may not consider recruitment to be that high risk! Depending on your contracts you may need to be covered for more than just vicarious liability, such as contractual liability, indemnity to principal, offshore activities or even the use of heat!
Medical and Nursing Agencies
Specialist agencies will almost certainly require some form of specialist cover. Clarke Williams has worked with recruiters in the medical sector, who provide locums, consultants and nurses giving us a unique understanding of the risks involved when placing staff within this industry. We can provide indemnity and liability insurance packages that can even be tailored to include full Medical Malpractice insurance or on a contingent basis for peace of mind. Medical Malpractice insurance is designed to provide cover for bodily injury, mental injury, illness, disease or death arising from incorrect treatment or misdiagnosis. It would normally be purchased by a private practice or independent consultants. However, we have helped recruitment agencies arrange the cover where there is an exposure.
Professional Bodies and Trade Associations.
Still unsure about what you require? Professional bodies and trade associations often provide guidelines on what levels of cover a company should hold. Below is a list of some of the main Recruitment and Employment bodies within the UK, it may be useful to consult with them if you do not know your requirements.
- Association of Graduate Recruiters
- Association of Professional Staffing Companies
- Association of Executive Search Consultants
- Association of Labour Providers
- Association of Professional Recruitment Consultants
- Association of Recruitment Consultancies
- Executive Research Association
- Institute of Recruiters
- The Recruitment Society
"It will never happen to our company". Still not convinced? See the below insurance claims examples for the Recruitment Industry:
Drivers Negligence
In theory, you are providing a “professional” HGV or LGV driver, howeverif the driver is unfamiliar with the dimensions of the vehicle or the route they are taking, it is very common for drivers to crash client’s vehicles into trees, bollards or signs. Another common claim we see is damage to a vehicles equipment where it has been operated incorrectly.
Negligent misstatement or misrepresentation.
Sometimes you may do everything in your power and things still don’t work out. A recruitment consultant placed an architectural designer with a client. The consultant then received information through sources that there had been some allegations of misconduct in the candidates work.
Following thorough background checks, the recruitment consultant decided not to inform their client of these rumours.
Sometime later the client fired the designer for acting fraudulently and accused the recruitment consultant of misrepresentation for not passing the information on. The insurance policy provided legal costs and support to the recruitment consultant, and the claims were subsequently dropped once it was confirmed that the consultant had carried out all the relevant checks.
Breach of confidence
It’s not uncommon for a company to start looking for candidates well in advance,when replacing a senior member of an organisation, as such a recruitment consultant may be asked to keep their work confidential. If for whatever reason, the senior member of staff or other employees find out this information it can create a lot of problems for the organisation they are employed for. For instance, they may spread malicious rumours, productivity of the teams could drop or there could be legal repercussions if the employee who is being let go has not been informed in the correct manner. These examples could then potentially lead to a claim against the recruitment consultant and some form of requirement for legal defence irrespective of any negligence.
Vicariously Liability
It could be the case that the business is found vicariously liable for the temporary staff that they supply, either through contract or if the relationship and scope of responsibilities that the recruitment consultant has over the temporary placement is tested in court. Thus, a recruitment agency could find that they are liable for claims relating to theft of company property, sexual harassment, breach of confidentiality or even property damage or bodily injury that the temporary placement might sustain.