ELTO has replaced the previous voluntary Employers’
Liability Code of Practice (ELCOP) tracing service, which was in place since
1999 and helped around 20,000 claimants trace the Employers Liability (EL)
insurer to pursue a claim.
The service has been introduced by the insurance industry to make it easier to
search for EL insurance policies using a central database – containing all new
and renewed EL insurance policies from April 2011
ELTO,
is independent and has been set up to provide claimants and their
representatives with quick and easy access to a database of Employers'
Liability (EL) policies through an online enquiry facility, Designed to help
find the insurer of their former employer, where the claimant is suffering from
a disease/injury caused at work.
It is a complete electronic database of all new
and renewed employers' liability insurance policies. This EL Database (ELD)
improves upon the existing tracing service, which relied solely on insurers
checking against their own policy records, to make it easier to find records
and identify the insurer to enable claimants to pursue compensation.
We can reassure you that the ELTO is not a
compensatory body. The ELTO search is simply designed to produce details that
help the ‘claimant’ and their representative continue further investigation
with the appropriate insurers. The results from the search of the ELD are not
proof of insurance, or proof of liability.
ELTO members (Insurance Providers) are organisations owning EL liabilities for
UK employers, including active and run-off EL insurers.
ELTO has a contract with each of its members,
requiring them to upload data onto the database in a specified format and within
specified timescales.
In order to meet the requirements of ELTO and ELD process of
capturing and transmitting EL policy data to the ELD within agreed timescales
it will become a mandatory requirement for every policyholder to provide the name
of the company ( and name any/all subsidiaries) and also the unique Employers
Reference Number (ERN) for the same. Each organisation operating a PAYE scheme
is allocated an ERN. (this is the reference number for their employees’ income
tax and national insurance contributions, also commonly referred to as Employer
PAYE Reference. It is included on many documents such as P45, P60, P11D and
most payslips.
Whilst this will not be mandatory until April 2012, we are
looking at all renewal dates that exceed this date, to provide the necessary
information, in order to comply.
If you could therefore supply us with this
information, we will then advise your insurers accordingly, so they update the
register on your behalf.
If you have any queries regarding this, please do not
hesitate to contact Alan Jayne directly.