Employer Reference Numbers

Video transcript

Hi, my name is Ben Leech, and I'm an adviser for Towergate.

In this video I’m going to talk about employer reference numbers and how they relate to your employers' liability. 

Every registered business that has a PAYE scheme is given an Employer Reference Number, also known as an Employer PAYE reference.

This unique number belongs to that business alone and not used again by anyone else.  This makes it a very helpful means to identify an organisation and for this reason it is used for entering businesses on to the Employers' Liability Database.

Your insurer is responsible for adding your Employer Reference Number onto the database along with the rest of your policy information, so you will need that to hand when you are setting up your business insurance.  Once you have been added, claims can then be traced to the correct employers and insurers much more quickly and easily.

Don’t forget though, your insurer isn’t asking for your employers' reference number to check up on your tax or status. The liability database is simply to help streamline claims.  It does this by informing the searcher who the insurance company was at any one time.  So if a claim is raised, for example, that happened in the past and the business is no longer operating, the register can actually make it easier to determine who the insurer was when a claim is made.

Going from what can take days to a matter of minutes will help stream line the whole claims process which is good news for your employees. 

Having necessary access to this kind of information means that the protection you provide for your staff with employers' liability insurance remains in place long after they may have stopped working for you, even after the business has ceased trading.   

Employers' liability insurance from Towergate

At Towergate we offer bespoke employers' liability insurance policies to suit your needs. Read more about our policies online or call us on 0344 346 0409 to speak to a specialist adviser.

About the author

Alison Wild BCom (Hons), MAAT, ATT, Taxation Technician is a highly respected industry professional who has been working with and advising SMEs in areas including tax, pensions, insurance and marketing for over 25 years. She is a member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and Association of Tax Technicians (AAT) and also has considerable experience as a residential landlord.