Local Authorities and the Financing of the Employers' Liability Risk

Various bodies have recently discussed the apparent crisis facing the commercial insurance market and the underwriting of employers' liability insurance. As major employers who have traditionally used this market, local authorities would be expected to be heavily exposed to such a crisis. Concurrent with these insurance market difficulties has been a growth in alternative methods of risk financing. This article draws on a survey of local authority risk managers to explore their views on the current employers' liability system, the insurance market which supports that system and on new ways of dealing with risk. The results suggest that local authorities may be taking too narrow a view of these issues.