2011-04-05
By Editor
A year since the establishment of The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office (ELTO), the Employers’ Liability Database is now ready to accept data for EL policies.
In February this year, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) issued its regulations which compel insurers to publish their policy data for commercial lines EL. This came into force on 6 March 2011. Insurers are required to meet the FSA’s regulations for the following policy information to be available to search no later than 1 July 2011:
• New and renewed policies from April 2011
• Old policies that have a claim made against them
• Policies previously identified through the tracing service.
“The industry is committed to enabling claimants and representatives acting on their behalf to have access to a comprehensive record of EL policies and this is what the ELD will become over time. It will only take a matter of minutes for a claimant to search those policies loaded onto the central database and for the results to be displayed on screen," said Adrian Brown, provisional chair of ELTO and chief executive, UK, RSA Insurance Group.
“Those companies that have yet to sign up as ELTO members should really do so now, because it is not only mandatory to publish this information but it also makes it easier for the claimant or their representative to search a single source for the information they need to pursue their claim.”
More than 95% of the EL insurance market has already signed up as members of ELTO. The search facility, maintained by ELTO, is currently planned to be available through www.elto.org.uk from late April and will improve upon the previous tracing service by enabling claimants and their representatives to search the policy records available on the ELD at that time.
Neil Drane, head of database services at TSL added, “This is an important milestone for the industry. Rigorous testing of systems is underway and insurers are being supported by an account management team to ensure policy information appears on the database in the planned timescales. Insurers are also preparing staff as well as brokers and software houses to make sure they are all familiar with the procedures to comply with the data supply requirements set out by the FSA.”
ELTO, together with the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA), have jointly produced a guide to supplying EL data which is intended to be a reference for brokers, managing general agents and delegated authorities. The guide aims to answer some of the more common questions about supplying EL data and should ensure a consistent approach from the broker market. The guide is available from both the ELTO website (elto.org.uk) and the BIBA website (biba.org.uk).
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