ELTO membership
ELTO membership helps insurers meet their FCA tracing obligations, and Members account for more than 99% of the UK employers' liability insurance market.
Why become an ELTO Member?
You meet your FCA obligations in one place
Rather than maintaining a separate tracing capability, members submit policy data to the Employers' Liability Database and meet their regulatory obligations through it.
Claimants find you, and find you quickly
When someone develops a condition decades after the exposure that caused it, the policy record is often the only thing standing between them and a claim. Membership puts your records where they will be found.
Routine tasks move online
Self service tools let your team manage your organisation's information, contacts, business transfers and policy uploads.
ELTO collects Employer Reference Numbers on your behalf
Following changes to the FCA handbook (ICOBS 8.4), ELTO now obtains ERNs for member insurers, removing work that members would otherwise have to perform themselves.
You share the cost of an industry service
ELTO is not for profit. The levy funds the database, the people who run it and the development work behind it, and searching the ELD stays free for claimants, families and solicitors.
Who can join
Any organisation liable for current or historical employers' liability claims from a UK employer can benefit from membership. In practice that means insurers writing employers' liability business today, and organisations still carrying liabilities from policies written in the past.
Companies in run off, meaning those that no longer write new employers' liability business but still hold liabilities from earlier policies, can and should apply, so that historical records are captured. Run off companies pay the Fixed Levy.
Insurers new to writing employers' liability business are welcome to apply and will be asked for their business plan as part of the application.
How to apply
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1. Complete the application form
It asks for your company name, registered office, company registration number and your gross written premium for employers' liability business across all UK insurances for the previous year to December. It also asks for your holding company, trading names and website address, and for three named contacts: an ELTO sponsor, a CEO contact and a levy or finance contact. The form ends with a declaration confirming whether you currently write employers' liability business, signed and dated, and accepting that any dispute is governed by English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
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2 Sign the Participating Insurers' Agreement
This is the contract between ELTO and the insurer setting out what each side will do in relation to supplying data to the ELD. Two signed copies are required.
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3 Include your business plan, if you are new to employers' liability
Companies new to writing this business submit the plan as provided to the regulator.
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4 Send everything in
Return the form, both signed copies of the agreement and your gross written premium figure, with a covering letter, to the address at the foot of this page.
Once ELTO has everything, allow a minimum of three working days for your membership to be processed. You will receive your full membership certificate, ELTO's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the ELTO members' list and the Participating Insurers' Agreement.
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5 Meet your account manager
Once membership is confirmed you are allocated an account manager who takes you through data submission. How quickly your ELD set up completes depends on how ready your systems are to supply data and how quickly testing can be completed and signed off by ELTO.
What membership costs
ELTO has an annual levy. Levy payments are collected twice a year, in January and July. You will be notified of your revised levy each June, with the new charge effective from July.
The Variable Levy is based on your gross written premium for the previous year, as declared on your annual Levy Return Form and supported by your business plan, incorporating any adjustments from the previous year.
The Fixed Levy is a flat annual charge. It applies to members who are not qualifying members, and to qualifying members whose Variable Levy would otherwise come to less than the Fixed Levy. Companies in run off also pay it. The Fixed Levy was set at £1,000 for 2026.
Two things sit outside the levy. Member data assurance reports are charged separately. Interest is charged on late levy payments, and the guide also sets out how the levy is handled in a member's first year and in the year it ceases. Both are covered in the Guide to Membership.
ELTO is a not for profit organisation. Its accounts are independently audited every year and filed with Companies House.
What Members must do
Submit policy data. You must submit new employers' liability policies, policies renewed since March 2011, and any policy with a claim made against it. Policies issued before March 2011 can be submitted voluntarily.
Submit it correctly and on time. Data must arrive in the correct format and within the specified timescales.
Pass the annual tracing audit. Members are audited each year on their tracing practices.
Keep your details current. Tell ELTO as soon as possible if your contact details, company information or company status change. ELTO requires a named company sponsor contact at all times. If your company registration number changes, you may need to reapply for full membership.
Tell us if you stop writing employers' liability business. If your company decides to cease underwriting employers' liability business, ELTO must be instructed in writing. ELTO will confirm receipt, update its membership records and advise the relevant departments of the change in status.
Download the documents
The full guidance on applying, the levy and what to expect once you join.