How we're funded
Searching the Employers' Liability Database is always free, for individuals, families and solicitors. We don't charge the people who use our service. Instead, ELTO is funded entirely by a membership levy paid annually by our insurer members, and because we are not for profit, that levy covers the cost of running the service, nothing more.
The membership levy
There is no fee to join ELTO. Once an insurer is a member, they contribute through an annual levy made up of two parts. Larger members pay a variable levy, calculated against their gross written premium, so bigger insurers contribute more. Smaller or non-qualifying members pay a fixed levy which was set at £1,000 for 2026.
During 2025, members approved changes to ELTO’s Articles of Association specifically to make the levy process fairer across the market. Our Chair described it as an important step, and it means the way contributions are apportioned now better reflects the benefit each member takes from the service.
The levy over time
| Year | Levy | Main reason for the change |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | £2,118,000 | Additional tracing investigator, data and IT security role, registration security work |
| 2017 | £2,287,000 | Security and stability improvements to the database |
| 2018 | £2,367,000 | A small increase of £80,000 on 2017 |
| 2019 | £2,645,000 | Further investment in the system, raised to £2,796,000 in December 2019 by a separate levy call for the HMRC project |
| 2020 | £2,958,000 | A 22% correction to service charges after a review found they did not reflect the true cost of delivery |
| 2021 | £3,111,000 | A new datamart and improved reporting |
| 2022 | £3,111,295 | Held broadly flat, with spending limited to necessary development |
| 2023 | £3,319,556 | A 6.7% increase, principally inflationary pressure on running costs |
| 2024 | £3,419,000 | A 3% increase, inflation and project costs |
| 2025 | £3,590,000 | A 5% increase, inflation and project costs |
Full accounts audited by CLA Evelyn Partners Limited (unqualified opinion). Filed at Companies House.
Where the money goes
The levy funds five broad areas, and the balance between them has been consistent for years:
Management, staffing and operational resource, including the tracing investigators who handle extended searches, service management and auditing. This is consistently the largest cost.
Technology for the database itself, covering hosting, capacity planning and technical support
Legal, professional and communications costs, including the external audit
Irrecoverable VAT, which runs at roughly half a million pounds a year and cannot be reclaimed
For 2025, the forecast was £3,590,000 of levy income and £270,000 of data assurance income, against total costs of £3,063,000.
A second, smaller income stream
Alongside the levy, we charge separately for member data assurance reports, the audits carried out on member insurers and reported to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Only the members who use that service pay for it. It brings in roughly £270,000 a year, and it is kept apart from the levy so that members are not charged for a service they do not use.
Funding ELD NextGen
In 2026, members are also contributing to a one off levy to help fund ELD NextGen, the programme rebuilding the database and the systems behind it. This is separate from the ordinary annual levy that covers day to day running costs.
The reason for a separate call is that this is a rebuild rather than an upgrade. The infrastructure behind the ELD has served the service well since 2011, but after a full technology review in 2024 the Board concluded that further investment in a patchwork of upgrades was not in the interest of ELTO or its stakeholders. ELD NextGen replaces that infrastructure with a modern platform built for resilience, scalability, security and compliance, delivered in phases with published milestones so that Members can see what their contribution is paying for.
Not for profit, in the numbers
ELTO does not operate to generate a profit, and the accounts show it. In 2025, turnover was £3,018,929 and the organisation recorded an operating loss of £56,877, with no profit after tax. In 2024, income and expenditure both came to £3.24 million. These are the figures of an organisation funded to cover its costs rather than to build up a surplus.
Our accounts are independently audited every year and filed with Companies House, alongside the wider assurance audit of how we handle policy data and searches.
Always free to search
Whatever the funding model behind the scenes, the service you use stays the same: searching the ELD costs nothing, whether you are searching for yourself, for a family member, or on behalf of a client.