A certificate for a job that has already started
In short
- A certificate produced after work has already begun still only confirms the policy as it stood on the day it was issued — it cannot retroactively confirm cover was in place before that.
- The real question is whether the policy was actually in force when the work started, not just whether a certificate can now be produced.
- Where the work started without confirmed cover, that gap does not close just because a current certificate later shows cover exists now.
A subcontractor is already three weeks into a job when someone finally asks for a certificate of currency. It is produced without much drama, everyone files it, and the paperwork looks complete. What that certificate actually confirms is narrower than the relief of receiving it suggests.
This page is about the gap between "we now have a certificate" and "cover was in place for the whole job", which are not the same statement.
What a late certificate does and does not confirm
A certificate issued today confirms the policy was in force today. If the policy in question has been continuously in force since before the job started — which is the ordinary case — that certificate is perfectly good evidence, just collected later than it should have been.
What it cannot do is confirm anything about a period before it was issued if the policy itself did not exist yet, or lapsed and was only reinstated afterwards. The certificate is honest about the day it was produced; it says nothing reliable about days before that.
The question worth asking directly
Rather than treating the arrival of a certificate as closing the issue, ask specifically: has this policy been continuously in force since before the work began, with no gap. That is a yes-or-no question the broker or insurer can usually answer directly, and it is the one that actually matters.
If the answer is yes, the late paperwork is an administrative delay, not a coverage problem. If the answer is no — the policy started, or restarted, after the work was already underway — there has been a real period with no evidenced cover, and that does not un-happen because a certificate exists now.
What to do about a confirmed gap
Where a gap is confirmed, document when it started, when it ended, and what work occurred during it. That record matters if anything from that period ever becomes a dispute, because the certificate collected afterwards will not answer questions about that window on its own.
Going forward, the fix is procedural: certificates get requested before work starts, not after, precisely so this question does not need to be reconstructed later.
Questions
- If a certificate is issued after work starts, is the earlier work automatically uninsured?
- Not automatically. If the policy was already continuously in force before the certificate was requested, the certificate is just late paperwork. The risk is specifically where the policy itself started or restarted after the work began.
- How do I confirm cover existed before a certificate was issued?
- Ask the broker or insurer directly whether the policy was continuously in force from before the work started, with no gap. That is a direct question they can usually answer, separate from simply producing a current certificate.
- What should be documented if a gap is confirmed?
- The dates the gap started and ended, and what work took place during it. That record is what a later dispute about that period would actually turn on, since the eventual certificate will not describe it.
Sources
- ASIC — Regulator of the AFS licensees and authorised representatives — including brokers — who issue certificates of currency.
- business.gov.au — business insurance — Australian Government guidance on business insurance types and managing cover.