An increase in flooding
The average amount of rainfall has increased 6-8%1 since the 1980s.
- Around one in six, or almost 5million, UK homes are now said to be at risk of flooding2
- Less than 40% of those homes at significant risk of flooding are aware of the risk3
- The majority of insurance claims result from surface water flooding, not as a result of being located near a river or the sea.
The growing impact of flooding
Flooding can be devastating to any home.
If your home is badly damaged due to flooding, it may take a year or more for it to be restored and become habitable again, mainly due to the time it takes for the property to be dried out4.
The average expected payout for each flood claim is now around £50,000 compared with £31,000 in 2013/145.
Having property insurance with flood cover can be crucial when getting a mortgage, so if flood insurance became harder to get and more expensive, this could have serious repercussions for the property market as a whole.
As a result, a not-for-profit initiative has been developed by the insurance industry with the Government called Flood Re. Its purpose is to ensure that UK homes at the highest risk of flooding can get affordable flood cover.
Further information can be found on the Flood Re website.
1House of Commons, Future flood prevention report (2 November 2016) - page 21
2The Environment Agency (16 February 2018)
3The National Flood Forum
4ABI Responding to Major Floods booklet
5ABI figures (11 January 2016)
Documents
Frequently asked questions
Recent winters have shown that flood continues to be an issue for the UK. Flood Re has been set up to ensure that insurance against floods continues to be available and affordable.
We have worked with many customers over the years both to support them and restore their homes after the devastating effects of being flooded. Methodist Insurance are supporting the Flood Re scheme to represent the homeowners we insure who are at risk of flooding.
All insurers pay a ‘levy’ into a central fund held by Flood Re.
In addition, insurers can choose to place (or cede) the flood risk part of any home insurance policy with Flood Re. For these policies the premium for the flood element will be based on the property’s Council Tax band and the flood excess will be £250.
The levies and the flood premiums collected by Flood Re will then be used to pay for flood claims on policies sent to them by the insurers.
This makes no difference to the way you buy your home insurance and any claims will continue to be handled by Methodist Insurance as before.
If your home is to be included in the Flood Re scheme, we will contact you ahead of your renewal date with details of your amended premium including the excess of £250 for flood.
Your premium could be affected if your property is identified by us as being at risk of flooding.
We have invested in flood mapping software tools that enable us to look at properties on an individual basis and provide bespoke underwriting.
No, insurers do not all use the same data sources. The information each insurer uses is commercially sensitive and you may find that insurers will differ in their approach.
For more information about how Flood Re works and the benefits visit the Flood Re website.
You can also find information about flood prevention and protection in the risk management section of our website.