Floods: Insurance

(asked on 1st February 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on devising a flood insurance scheme, along the lines of Flood Re, for the owners of small businesses.


Answered by
Thérèse Coffey Portrait
Thérèse Coffey
This question was answered on 9th February 2018

There are a small number of small businesses at high flood risk in recently flooded communities that struggle to access affordable insurance.

A British Insurance Broker Association (BIBA) insurance product, launched in December 2016, provides flood insurance for small businesses that have struggled to access it to-date. It also provides insurance against the excess of a policy, which was taken up 1,100 times in the first 12 months.

The Government is also working closely with the insurance and building industries to help support small businesses to become more resilient to flooding, stopping water entering the property and speeding recovery when it does.

The Government has no plans to devise a flood insurance scheme, along the lines of Flood Re, for the owners of small businesses. There is not sufficient evidence to justify the cross subsidy that would be required of other businesses.

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