Mis-selling insurance?

[chrisalis]

I'm an IT Contract tester working through my own Ltd. Co. with no other employees. My insurance is up for renewal and my accountancy firm who organised the insurance last year will only offer £5 million cover on each of PI/PL and insist on me having Employer Liability as well, which is what they charged me for last year. Looking through previous contracts, none have asked for more than £1 million PI/PL cover.

As I understand it, I could never claim against the Employer Liability and feel that it was mis-sold to me. Can anyone confirm this? I'm tempted to re-claim the amount I paid for Employer Liability last year and possibly go to the F.C.A.

Thanks
Chris

[northernladuk]

Why is your accountant organizing the insurances for you LTD company? Surely as the director that is your sole responsibility, just like your finances ultimately are because you sign for them even though you have an accountant.

I would say it's your fault for not organizing it properly and letting someone else run your business for you. You sign off on it so it's your responsibility. You can have a stiff word with your accountant and try recoup the money but I would forget taking it further for the reasons i mentioned above.

Time to stop relying on other people to do your stuff for you.

EDIT : Is your wife connected to the company? PAYE? Director? Shares etc?

[tractor]

...

Why is your accountant organizing the insurances for you LTD company? Surely as the director that is your sole responsibility, just like your finances ultimately are because you sign for them even though you have an accountant.

I would say it's your fault for not organizing it properly and letting someone else run your business for you. You sign off on it so it's your responsibility. You can have a stiff word with your accountant and try recoup the money but I would forget taking it further for the reasons i mentioned above.

Time to stop relying on other people to do your stuff for you.

EDIT : Is your wife connected to the company? PAYE? Director? Shares etc?

Yes, I would say that is mis-buying, not mis-selling

[BolshieBastard]

I'm an IT Contract tester working through my own Ltd. Co. with no other employees. My insurance is up for renewal and my accountancy firm who organised the insurance last year will only offer £5 million cover on each of PI/PL and insist on me having Employer Liability as well, which is what they charged me for last year. Looking through previous contracts, none have asked for more than £1 million PI/PL cover.

As I understand it, I could never claim against the Employer Liability and feel that it was mis-sold to me. Can anyone confirm this? I'm tempted to re-claim the amount I paid for Employer Liability last year and possibly go to the F.C.A.

Thanks
Chris

As others have said, why is your accountant doing this for you?

Anyway, £5m seems excessive for both PL and PI especially for a Test Analyst (surely you are not just a 'tester'?).

I've seen some agencies require £2m cover so its up to you if you want to go £1m or £2m.

There is no legal requirement to have Employer's Liability insurance unless you have more than 1 employee ie yourself and another working employee. So, you do not need EL. Your accountant has conned you there Im afraid. Id just change accountants and forget about it.

My recommendation is use QDOS for your insurance quotes. Use Bauer and Cottrell for your contract reviews (you do have them reviewed?) who are far better than QDOS in this respect imho.