Editing Workers' compensation (section)

===United Kingdom===
Great Britain followed the German model. [[Joseph Chamberlain]], leader of the Liberal Unionist party and coalition with the Conservatives, designed a plan that was enacted under the Salisbury government in 1897. The [[Workmen's Compensation Act 1897]] was a key domestic achievement, although it only covered certain named industries (eg railways, laundries). It served its social purpose at no cost to the government, since compensation was paid for by insurance which employers were required to take out. The system operated from 1897 to 1946.<ref>D. C. Hanes, ''The First British Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897'' (1968).</ref> It was expanded to include industrial diseases by the [[Workmen's Compensation Act 1906]] and replaced by a state compensation scheme under the [[National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act 1946]]. Since 1976, this state scheme has been set out in the UK's Social Security Acts.<ref>Peter W.J. Bartrip, ''Workmen's Compensation in Twentieth Century Britain: Law, History, and Social Policy'' (Gower, 1987).</ref>

Work related safety issues in the UK are supervised by the [[Health and Safety Executive]] (HSE), who provide the framework by which employers and employees are able to comply with statutory rules and regulations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hse.gov.uk/|title=HSE: Information about health and safety at work|website=www.hse.gov.uk|access-date=4 May 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180318033425/http://www.hse.gov.uk/|archive-date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

Employer duties enforced by the HSE include protecting the health and safety of workers at workplace, risk assessment and training of workers.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Employer's responsibilities: Workers' health and safety|url=https://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/employers.htm|access-date=2021-01-16|website=www.hse.gov.uk}}</ref> If an employer fails to fulfil these responsibilities, resulting in injury to an employee, then the employee has a legal right to make a workers' compensation claim against the employer and to sue their employer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who is responsible for workplace health and safety? |url=https://www.britsafe.org/training-and-learning/informational-resources/who-is-responsible-for-workplace-health-and-safety |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=British Safety Council |language=en-GB}}</ref>

With the exception of the following, all employers are obliged to purchase compulsory Employer's Liability Insurance in accordance with the [[Employer's Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969]]. The current minimum limit of indemnity required is £5,000,000 per occurrence.<ref>UK Government, [https://www.gov.uk/employers-liability-insurance Employers' liability insurance], accessed 20 September 2022</ref> Market practice is to usually provide a minimum £10,000,000 with inner limits to £5,000,000 for certain risks, e.g. workers on oil rigs and acts of terrorism.

These employers do not require Employer's Liability Insurance:
* local authorities (other than [[Civil parish|parish councils]])
* joint boards or committees whose members include members of local authorities
* police authorities
* nationalised industries or their subsidiaries
* certain bodies which are financed out of public funds
* employers of crews on offshore installations, ships or hovercraft, if they are covered instead with a mutual insurance association of ship owners or ship owners and others
* a health service body or [[NHS Trust]]<ref>Industrial engineering projects: practice and procedures for capital, By Joint Development Board (Great Britain), pp. 142–43 [https://books.google.com/books?id=7K8pSs_Y8WAC&pg=PA142 books.google.com]</ref>

"Employees" are defined as anyone who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer. The contract may be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, it may be written or verbal and it may be for full-time or part-time work.

These persons are not classed as employees and, therefore, are exempt:
* persons who are not employees (for example independent contractors who are not the employees of the person engaging them)
* people employed in any activity which is not a business (such as domestic servants)
* people who are related to the employer – husband, wife, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother sister, half-brother or half-sister
* people who are not normally resident in the United Kingdom and who are working there for fewer than 14 consecutive days.

Employees need to establish that their employer has a legal liability to pay compensation. This will principally be a breach of a statutory duty or under the tort of negligence. If the employer is insolvent or no longer in existence, then compensation can be sought directly from the insurer under the terms of the [[Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010]].

For the history of worker's compensation in the UK, see [[Workmen's Compensation Act 1897]] and following acts.<ref>Bartrip, ''Workmen's Compensation in Twentieth Century Britain: Law, History, and Social Policy'' (1987).</ref>