5. Insurance for Homes in High Flood Risk Areas
Insurance companies and the Government have been working together to develop a different way of dealing with flood insurance. The 'flood re-insurance' scheme - known as Flood Re - aims to help support households at highest flood risk and is the national scheme designed to help provide better access to affordable home insurance for those in high flood-risk areas across the UK. It represents a long-term, sustainable approach to providing home insurance for those at flood risk.
An important part of the Flood Re scheme will be to offer help to people to increase their understanding of their level of flood risk and explaining how, where possible, they can take action to reduce that risk.
Flood Re will be in place for 25 years and is designed to:
- Enable flood cover to be affordable for those households at highest risk of flooding
- Increase availability and choice of insurers for customers
- Allow time for the Government, local authorities, insurers and communities to become better prepared for flooding
- Create a 'level playing field' for new entrants and existing insurers in the UK home insurance market.
Further information is available on the Flood Re website, including a leaflet.