Further support for flood resilience measures

Householders in flood-hit areas who install property flood resilience measures could soon be able to obtain discounted insurance premiums, under proposals being consulted on by the government.

Under the new Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs plans, insured households that experience flooding would not only claim money to cover the damage caused, but could also receive additional funds to build back better and make their homes more resilient.

As part of the move, the government has published a Call for Evidence to look at changes to the flood funding formula to benefit frequently flooded communities, and ways to increase the uptake of property flood resilience measures so that homes and businesses are better protected.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “My thoughts are with all of those affected by Storms Bella and Christoph. In Northwich last week I saw for myself the impact that flooding has on homes, businesses and communities. I am determined to get more support to people hit time and again by floods. These plans aim to give households in flood-hit areas additional support to protect their properties.”

Floods Minister Rebecca Pow said: “During Storm Christoph 49,000 properties were protected by our defences. I recognise that this is of little comfort to those who have been flooded and that there is more to do. The plans will give people in flood-hit areas more help to build back better and reduce the risk to homeowners in the future. Combined with a record £5.2 billion government investment over the next six years in new flood and coast defences, hundreds of thousands properties will be better protected.”

In total there have been at least 23,000 publicly funded installations of property flood resilience measures since 2009.

The consultation covers changes to the Flood Re scheme, a joint industry/government initiative, designed to reduce insurance costs for thousands of households by passing on the flood risk element of home insurance to Flood Re and charging a set premium to households based on council tax bands.

Since its launch in 2016, over 300,000 households have benefited from Flood Re, with four out of five households with prior flood claims seeing reductions in their insurance premiums by more than half.