Care Home Worker - need personal insurance?

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pickup01
pickup01 Posts: 15 Forumite
in Employment, jobseeking & training
My wife recently started work as a carer in a care home. She has been told that she, rather than the care home, may be sued by a resident if she is deemed to have injured them during the course of her duties. Is this correct? Surely the care home business should carry the appropriate level of business insurance to cover this. Should she take out public liability insurance or similar?

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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 4,176 Forumite
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    Is she an agency worker or directly employed by them?
  • pickup01
    pickup01 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    Directly employed by them
  • dawyldthing
    dawyldthing Posts: 3,438 Forumite
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    As long as they follow all training, especially manual handling, there should be no reason for someone to sue
    :T:T :beer: :beer::beer::beer: to the lil one :) :beer::beer::beer:
  • pickup01
    pickup01 Posts: 15 Forumite
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    OK - thanks. That's what I thought. I think that the home is just saying the same thing, but in a slightly threatening way!
  • Nebulous2
    Nebulous2 Posts: 5,116 Forumite
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    Is she in a union?

    They will provide support in the event she is sued personally. I think it is very unlikely, unless she is extremely negligent.

    I've never heard of individual workers having public liability cover. The home should certainly have it.
  • kingfisherblue
    kingfisherblue Posts: 9,203 Forumite
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    pickup01 wrote: »
    My wife recently started work as a carer in a care home. She has been told that she, rather than the care home, may be sued by a resident if she is deemed to have injured them during the course of her duties. Is this correct? Surely the care home business should carry the appropriate level of business insurance to cover this. Should she take out public liability insurance or similar?


    If the home are employing her, they should have insurance. They should have certain types of insurance anyway, including public liability. However, as she is involved in care work, I would strongly suggest that she joins an appropriate union. If there is ever an allegation, it will be too late to join after the event. If she joins before there is an incident, then she has the support of the union, assuming all policies and procedures have been followed. She does not need to tell her employer that she is in a union. My daughter is a care worker and is in Unison, which has a sliding scale of fees according to wages. If she is already in a union, they may be able to confirm whether she could be sued personally.
  • ohreally
    ohreally Posts: 7,525 Forumite
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    The care home would be vicariously liable in the event of a claim being made.
    Don’t be a can’t, be a can.
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