The
RCN does not provide members with personal letters confirming cover
We cannot issue an individual
guarantee of future cover in writing.
The RCN indemnity scheme is an occurrence based policy rather than insurance policy. We cannot decide in advance if a future application for indemnity would be successful as it is impossible to foresee the circumstances of future incidents and the claims related to them.
We are able to generate a letter which provides proof of RCN membership.
Please follow the links on the RCN indemnity scheme page
Need confirmation of your RCN membership? Follow the links to log in to my RCN
Criteria for RCN indemnity cover for self-employed members:
In order to decide
if you are eligible for cover, the RCN applies the general employment law test
used by the courts to determine eligibility for statutory employment rights.
We consider a range
of factors including:
- whether you were obliged to accept
work assignments from the relevant ‘employing’ organisation and, conversely,
whether the latter was obliged to offer such work (known as ‘mutuality of
obligation’)
- the degree of control exercised by
the employing organisation
- tax and insurance arrangements;
provision of holiday, sick leave and pay;
- any disciplinary, grievance and other
terms routinely provided for in contracts of employment;
- substitution clauses (i.e. the worker
is entitled to provide a substitute when unavailable for work);
- who supplied any relevant equipment.
As a self-employed
member, you should note, the exclusions about using others in your business to
deliver your services.
If an employee is employed
under a contract with an ‘umbrella’ company, for the purposes of supplying services,
via an agency, to a client or ‘end user’ of the agency, their employment status
will mean that they are not covered by the RCN scheme, for work performed
through the umbrella company.
The agency, as the employer,
and therefore vicariously liable for the employee’s actions, should make appropriate
indemnity arrangements.
The RCN Indemnity page has a check list for members to check they would be covered go to the section Need to check you're covered by the RCN indemnity scheme? And go through the questions.
It is also important to note:
The scheme is also only for the work you do providing it is undertaking health and social care activity, acceptable to the RCN. To do this our scheme would only apply providing you were appropriately trained and competent in the work you are doing in accordance to the NMC code.
The scheme does not apply if the negligence claim is for a pure financial loss, not associated with any personal injury or damage to property.