By law, all businesses employing staff must have employers’ liability (EL) insurance as a minimum otherwise they can be fined up to £2,500 a day by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Despite this, the research found that 80,000 SMEs who employ staff have no cover in place, leaving them vulnerable to prosecution and fines.

On top of this, 15% have no financial back-up plan in place if they were unable to trade for any reason and 4% have no insurance, equivalent to over 200,000 companies across the UK.

Mike Crane, commercial lines director at LV= Broker, said: “SMEs are the lifeblood of the British economy and it is great to see that so many have increased their turnover in the past year and taken on more staff. The research shows that thousands are leaving themselves vulnerable to prosecutions and fines by the HSE for not having appropriate insurance in place. Getting the right advice on cover from a specialist insurance broker is invaluable for business owners and can make the difference between being able continue trading or not should the worst happen.”