Many agencies these days are suggesting that live-in carers have their own insurance. This is because many clients and their families are asking for the carer to be covered in case of a misfortune.

 

Having your own personal insurance will give you protection while you are at work with your client. Some policies may cover you when you are not working, although you must check this out with the company.

 

What the policy should cover

 

Public liability cover: this may be up to £5 million and should cover the following:

 

·      Accidental damage to property

·      Accidental bodily injury to any person

·      Legal costs incurred while defending prosecution under the food, health, and safety acts

 

Public liability should also cover you in the case of errors and omissions following medical administration in nursing care, handling, and administrating medicine, and first aid.

 

Personal accident cover: this should also come with a hospital allowance.

 

This side of the policy is there to provide benefits in case you suffer any accidental injury.

 

You will normally receive an amount each day while in hospital until a maximum amount has been reached.

 

A company may offer benefits ranging from £200 for a broken bone to £2,500 for permanent loss of use of a hand to £10,000 for death

What most policies do not cover

 

·      Instances where you have not received appropriate training

·      Instances where you are not formally qualified to undertake the duties performed

·      Deliberate or malicious acts

·      Injury from certain dangerous activities

·      Disease, natural causes, pre-existing medical conditions

·      Instances resulting from drugs (unless prescribed), alcoholism or drunkenness

 

To sum up

You will need to check the individual policy of the company you select, but most of them will have a cap of around £10,000 in all for any one insured person and £50,000 overall during the period of cover.

 

The average annual amount for a live-in care personal insurance policy is in the region of £100 per year. You may be able to set up monthly payments or pay the amount once a year in a lump sum.

 

While this is an amount that may seem high, these days may clients will not accept carers who do not have personal insurance, so it is worth considering. Additionally, many agencies now insist that you have insurance, so be sure to check this out if you plan on changing agencies.

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