Flood Cover House Insurance
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Following the unprecedented floods of last year the ABI (Association of British Insurers) had threatened to stop offering flood damage protection to over a million homes unless the government proved that it was taking greater measures to protect against the threat of flood. The prospect of having millions of homes on Britain's flood plains that were essentially uninsurable was a great enough threat to ensure that the government acted quickly and they have struck a deal with the ABI. The deal depends on the government delivering improvements to flood defences within a five-year plan. In response the insurance industry has declared that they will continue to offer cover to people who live in areas of moderate risk and will cover existing customers who live in an area of significant risk although it does not seem that they will offer new coverage to customers in high-risk areas. In addition to this the government has announced that the planning system will stop inappropriate development in flood-risk areas. The insurance companies have consented to the deal providing that the government meets its commitments, as they have potentially enormous sums of money to lose if the risk of flooding remains high. One of the reasons for the insurance companies original declaration that they would withdraw insurance was that climate change predictions have changed, with the latest evidence suggesting that extreme weather conditions such as those experienced last summer will increase in the decades to come. This makes the "once in a century" floods experienced last summer significantly more likely to recur in the near future. Overall the ABI believes that 517,000 are at a significant risk of being flooded, and there is no reason for these numbers to go down by any great proportion in the near future whatever the government does with the flood defences. Previously, in response to this estimation, the ABI's director general had accused the government of completely failing to grasp the importance of improving Britain's flood defence. In terms of actual costs, the ABI are in fear of last years flooding happening again, particularly with the economy in its current state. Last years floods saw four years worth of claims submitted in just two months and cost the ABI's members around £3bn. For the meantime then, it will still be possible to get house insurance in most of the areas of the country that are at risk from flooding. The premiums will probably be higher than in previous years, which makes it all the more important that you do your research and make sure that the policy that you do get is the best value for money.
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