For any contractor who has previously been in traditional employment, you probably didn’t think that much about what would happen if you got injured at work. Or, if you did, you’d have found that your employer would have significant responsibilities towards you in the event of an accident in the workplace.
As a bare minimum employees are guaranteed £92.05 per week Statutory Sick Pay, payable for up to 28 weeks, if they are too ill to work. Many employment contracts offer enhanced sickness benefits on top of this. And, of course, while at work, your employer is liable for your safety, so if they have been negligent you may be able to make a claim for personal injury compensation against them.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit also exists to support those employees who become ill or are disabled because of an accident or disease at work.
However, neither Statutory Sick Pay nor Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit are payable to self-employed workers. It’s one area where the regulations leave self-employed workers extremely vulnerable. Not only will you have a temporary loss of income while you recover, but because self-employed workers are legally responsible for their own safety whilst at work, you may find making a claim for compensation difficult.
A long recovery period may mean that you struggle to retain other clients while you are out of action. All of this spells disaster to a contractor or freelancer.
No, it’s not fair that self-employed workers aren’t covered by existing legislation that is designed to keep us all safe while at work. But there is a solution.
One key component of Kingsbridge’s simple, compliant, comprehensive insurance package is our Occupational Personal Accident cover. This simple policy offers a huge amount of peace of mind to our customers – it means that if you are injured as a result of an accident while working, you’ll be paid a weekly benefit of up to £500 while you recover, no matter who is to blame for the injury.
As extra reassurance for you and your loved ones, if your injury causes a permanent disability or death, the policy will pay up to £100,000 as a lump sum. In the past, we’ve had clients use the cover to support themselves while they recovered from a broken arm caused by a fall at work as a commissioning engineer, and a hand injury sustained during a cycle to work.
We know money isn’t everything, but in times of stress it’s one less thing for you to worry about.
If you work on sites or in the premises of clients a lot, you might also consider adding additional Legal Expenses cover to your Kingsbridge policy. In the event that you sustain a workplace accident that you believe to be someone else’s fault, this policy will pay up to £100,000 of legal expenses in pursuing a dispute against a third party.
Unfortunately, accidents do happen, and when they do, we want you to be able to concentrate on recovering – not worrying about paying the mortgage or the electricity bill. Let Kingsbridge cover that: get an online quote today at www.kingsbridge.co.uk.
