DAS is promising increased employment protection and lower premiums as it goes online with its Employment Risk Management Service.
This makes the insurer's Employment Practices Protection (EPP) policy more accessible to smaller companies.
DAS head of sales & marketing Ray Kneeshaw, said: "A key feature of making EPP more appropriate and affordable to smaller companies has been reengineering the risk assessment.
"Cover is identical to that provided for larger businesses but technology has enabled us to offer a significant saving to the SME."
ERMS, the Employment Risk Management Service, is at the heart of all EPP policies. The audit is traditionally conducted by an onsite visit, but for businesses with a wageroll of up to £2.5m there is now an option for EPP that has an online audit.
The audit identifies weaknesses in business practices and recommends solutions with the aim to improve internal systems and documentation to avoid disputes, not to adjust premiums.
ERMS requires completion of a survey of current employment practices. The responses are then scrutinised by a DAS legal advisor who will discuss improvements, modification to practices and any changes to employment contracts that may be needed.
Brokers will especially appreciate the opportunity to offer EPP to smaller business clients as it can also be applied to schemes, attracting standard commission rates of 15%.
Additionally, lower premium levels make the upsell for existing Commercial Legal Protection (CLP) policyholders even more attractive.
"The market has been taking us increasingly towards EPP”, Kneeshaw added, "The question of cost for smaller businesses, relative to CLP, has now been removed."
