LIABILITY MATTERS (1)

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Employers' Liability Certificates

Q What is the importance of the Employers’ Liability certificate?
A You are required by law to display this certificate wherever you employ staff. We will issue your new Employers’ Liability certificate to you once the premium
for the new period of insurance has been paid. The Employers’ Liability certificate should be displayed prominently and retained for a period of 40 years.

Certificates for Public Liability

Q Should we have a Public Liability certificate?
A There is no legal obligation for you to display or hold a copy of a certificate confirming Public Liability insurance. We do not issue a certificate automatically but can provide proof of cover upon request.

Outreach work

Q Are we covered when offering services to the elderly or disadvantaged in our local community?
A Yes, we consider outreach work to be part of the church’s normal activities. Where the work forms a significant part of your mission or raises any particular issues which you would consider unusual, then please tell us about what you do. There may be occasional situations in which we need to consider charging an additional premium because of increased risks.
It is essential you inform us when entering into any signed agreement with another organisation such as Social Services.
It should be remembered that if the outreach work is organised by an independent management committee separate insurance is required.

Regular Outside Users

Q Does our Church Shield Policy cover outside users?
A There is no cover for any injuries or accidents that occur as a direct result of the negligence of the outside user of the premises. Furthermore, if the outside user causes damage to church property then they should be responsible for its repair or replacement.
We consider regular outside users to be any organisations or groups that use the church premises at least four times a year irrespective of whether they pay rent or make a donation to the church. This could be a keep fit class, a local history society or any other activity not run under the control of the Church Council.
With this in mind no outside user should be allowed to use the church premises until you are certain that the user has adequate public liability cover.
Methodist Insurance has designed a blanket policy to provide Public Liability insurance for all users of a single church, on the basis that the users have no other insurance requirements, such as contents insurance or Employers’ Liability. The premium would be in the order of £30 per group, subject to a minimum premium of £100.
The policy operates in the name of the church, the renewal date of the policy would be the same as that of the church policy and the documents including the debit note would be sent to the church’s nominated correspondent.
If an outside user group does have need of any other insurance in addition to Public Liability cover at your church, then we would recommend that the group take out a policy in their own name and quotations are available on request.

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