I was both surprised and puzzled to read your front page report, "ABI ditches EL funding scheme" (2 September, Insurance Times).

Not only was the story untrue, but we had explained this to your correspondent before you went to press.

Far from shelving our work on reform of employers' liability insurance, we are in active current discussions with the government and others about the way forward, including the useful work done on our behalf by PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is an important and complex subject, and it is vital that we get it right.

The government is obviously taking it seriously, which is encouraging, and we expect to have further discussions with them in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, we continue to keep our member companies fully informed of progress, and to campaign publicly on the key issues.

Stephen Sklaroff
Deputy director general
ABI

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