Can I Claim Industrial Disease Compensation If My Employer Has Closed Down?
Last reviewed: June 2026 · EA Personal Injury Solicitors
Yes — in many cases you can still claim even if the employer who exposed you to harmful conditions no longer trades. Employers were legally required to hold Employers' Liability (EL) insurance, and those insurers can often be traced through the Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) database, even decades later.
TL;DR — Quick Summary
Key Points
- Employers' Liability insurance must be retained on record for 40 years
- The ELTO database helps trace insurers even when the employer has closed
- HMRC employment history and P60 records can help establish past employment
- Government schemes exist for some diseases where no insurer can be traced
- Multiple employers can each be pursued for their share of exposure
Why Closed Employers Do Not Necessarily End Your Claim
Industrial disease claims are unlike most accident claims — the harm often results from years of exposure to hazardous substances or conditions, and symptoms may not appear until decades after that exposure. By the time a worker develops, for example, mesothelioma or noise-induced hearing loss, their former employer may have long since closed, been acquired, dissolved, or gone into liquidation.
The key is that Employers' Liability insurance existed precisely to protect employees in this situation. Since 1972, employers in Great Britain have been legally required to hold EL insurance under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. Insurers are also required to retain records of policies for a minimum of 40 years — meaning historical policies can often be identified even for companies dissolved long ago.
The Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO)
The Employers' Liability Tracing Office (ELTO) maintains a database of EL insurance policies. Solicitors and claimants can search ELTO by employer name and date of employment to identify the insurer who held the policy at the relevant time. The database covers policies issued from 2011 onwards and many historical policies uploaded voluntarily by insurers.
For older policies (pre-2011), manual tracing using employer names, trade associations, and insurer archives is often required. An experienced industrial disease solicitor will have established procedures for this.
How to Establish Your Employment History
Establishing where you worked and for how long is often the first challenge in historical industrial disease claims. Useful sources include:
- HMRC employment history — available via your Government Gateway account or by written request, showing National Insurance records by employer
- P60s and payslips from the relevant period, if retained
- Trade union records — many unions maintained membership records and may have employer insurance details
- British Coal / British Steel / shipyard records — for former nationalised industry workers, specialist archives often exist
- Former colleagues who can corroborate working conditions
What If No EL Insurer Can Be Traced?
Where a valid EL policy cannot be identified, government compensation schemes may apply for certain diseases:
- Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme — for mesothelioma sufferers where no employer or insurer can be traced
- Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 — lump sum payments for dust-related diseases (pneumoconiosis, byssinosis, mesothelioma, diffuse pleural thickening, primary carcinoma of the lung) where the employer has ceased trading
These schemes provide an important safety net but typically pay less than a successful court claim. Your solicitor should always explore whether an insurer can be traced before relying on a statutory scheme.
Claims Against Multiple Former Employers
Many industrial disease claimants worked for multiple employers over a career, each contributing to their exposure. For diseases such as noise-induced hearing loss, courts apply a proportionate approach — each employer (or their insurer) is generally liable for the period of exposure they are responsible for. In some diseases (such as mesothelioma), the law allows the claimant to recover the full amount from any one defendant who then seeks contribution from others.
Contact EA Personal Injury Solicitors for a free initial enquiry. We specialise in industrial disease claims and have experience tracing historical employers and insurers across a range of industries including mining, manufacturing, shipbuilding, and construction.