Who counts as an employee on your farm? The answer might surprise you

Yet on many Northern Ireland farms, that may not be quite as straightforward, and getting it wrong could leave a business seriously exposed.

Farming here is still overwhelmingly made up of one-person and family operations, with relatively few holdings carrying full-time staff. What’s far more common is calling on casual help when the workload demands it – at lambing, silage, harvest, or during a particularly busy spell.

It’s precisely this pattern that can catch farmers out, because taking on casual or seasonal help, even for a short period, can mean that employers’ liability insurance requirements apply.

Most farm businesses already carry public liability insurance, and rightly so. It can provide cover for incidents such as a visitor being injured on the farm, livestock straying onto a road and damaging a passing vehicle, or animals causing damage to a neighbour’s property.

But public liability is designed to cover third-party claims. It does not provide the same protection for people working on the farm. That’s where employers’ liability insurance comes in.

Employers’ liability insurance can cover compensation and legal costs where an employee is injured or becomes ill as a result of their work and the employer is legally liable.

For businesses that are required to have it, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement, with a minimum level of cover of £5 million. Most insurers, however, provide at least £10 million as standard.

This is where many farmers can get caught out. Whether someone is regarded as an employee for insurance and legal purposes does not simply depend on whether they are on the payroll or have a formal employment contract. The nature of the working relationship, including the level of direction and control exercised by the farmer, can be important.

On that basis, farmers should not automatically assume that someone helping out on the farm is outside the scope of their employers’ liability arrangements simply because they are a neighbour, family friend or casual worker.

A neighbour’s son helping at weekends, a family friend lending a hand during calving, or short-term casual labour brought in for harvest are all examples where farmers should check that they have the appropriate insurance arrangements in place.

It is much better to establish this before someone starts work than discover there is a gap in cover following an accident.

At AbbeyAutoline, the agricultural team spends a lot of time talking to farmers through exactly this kind of detail – identifying where gaps in cover might exist and tailoring policies to reflect how the farm business actually operates, rather than simply how it appears on paper.

With harvest wrapping up and a quieter spell ahead, now is a sensible time to review what’s in place.

Don’t assume that because someone isn’t on the farm’s payroll, they aren’t an employee for insurance purposes.

Get in touch with the agricultural team on 08000 66 55 44 or email [email protected]