We often find that companies, particularly in the Construction Sector, are a little unsure of the difference between a Labour Only Sub Contractor and a Bone Fide Sub Contractor so we thought we would iron this out here to clear this up.

A Labour Only Sub Contractor doesn’t have their own insurance, tools & materials and doesn’t work under their own direct instruction and for the purposes of insurance they are treated and rated as Employees which is why its very important that they are declared properly,

And a Bona Fide Sub Contractor has/does all of the above. A typical example of a bona fide contractor being used would be a general Building contractor using a Roofer or Plumber for example, they would typically turn up in their own van, with their own tools and materials, have their own insurance in place and once they know what the job in hand is, would work under their own instruction. It’s still important to declare Bona Fide Sub Contractors too as your own Public/Products Liability Insurer will then have a Contingency in place, in case the Bona Fide Contractors insurance failed to pay our for what-ever reason. It’s also worth noting that most insurers insist that their Limit of Liability is the same as yours and not only should it be checked for the same, a copy should be held on your file.

We hope you found this helpful.