Government-backed reinsurance scheme Flood Re has announced a series of proposals designed to increase the flood resilience of UK homes.
Flood Re hopes to work with insurers on “building back better homes” after a flood event and would permit the payment of claims to include an additional amount for certain repairs above and beyond the original damage.
The organisation has also called for the ability to reward households which proactively install flood resilience measures with discounted premiums on their home insurance policies.
Flood Re’s recommendations are currently under-review by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“Flood Re has already had a significant impact on the affordability and availability of home insurance,” said Andy Bord, Chief Executive of Flood Re.
“Since our launch, hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who are at risk of flooding have benefited from the Scheme.”
“The package of seven recommendations we have announced today, taken together, will optimise the Scheme, making us more efficient, more responsive and more flexible.
“We are proud of our success so far in making flood insurance more affordable and accessible, and we have made solid progress with managing our transition out of the market by 2039,” Bord added.
“The measures we are proposing today allow Flood Re to go further than we have before in providing peace of mind to householders and will also make the UK more resilient to flooding in the future.”
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, commented, “We welcome the publication of the Flood Re Quinquennial Review today and support Flood Re’s proposals to lower premiums for homes with property flood resilience.”
“This new initiative will help stimulate greater take up of measures that help people recover more quickly after a flood.
“Later this year we will be finalising our Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy and we will be working with government, the insurance sector and the Property Flood Resilience Roundtable to encourage more property owners to ‘build back better’ to help create climate resilient places.”
Mary Dhonau, Chief Executive of the Know Your Flood Risk campaign, remarked, “I am delighted that Flood Re is leading the way by promoting that homes should be made more resilient to future floods during the repair process.
“It’s a win for everyone – it will reduce the appalling disruption being flooded brings for homeowners and ultimately save money for the industry by reducing future repair costs. Furthermore, rewarding those who take moves to protect their homes from being flooded, will help incentivise the transition to a risk reflective priced market.”
