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A barrage of storms left UK home insurers facing claims for £226mn of weather-related damage in the first quarter of this year, a record high since the data began to be tracked in 2017.
Property insurance claims have now topped £100mn for eight quarters in a row, data from the Association of British Insurers showed on Wednesday, £67mn higher than the previous quarterly record set in 2022.
Louise Clark, a policy adviser at the ABI, said that ahead of the government’s spending review next month, the record damages highlight the need for the UK to invest at least £1bn a year in flood defences.
“With climate change driving more frequent and severe weather, there must be a greater focus on prevention measures,” Clark said.
Storm Eowyn, which hit Ireland and Scotland in late January, was the UK’s most powerful wind storm for more than a decade. At its peak, the storm knocked out power for about a million homes, according to the Met Office, as heavy wind and falling trees brought down power lines.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has set out plans to build 1.5mn new homes during the current five-year parliament. Insurers and industry experts have warned that flood risks are rising, fuelled both by climate change and by housebuilding in flood-prone areas.
“What we don’t want is to stand in the way of the 1.5mn new homes, but we want to make sure they’re built in the right places,” Clark told the Financial Times.
While the government may have limited appetite for new spending, Clark added, ABI is advocating for changes to the planning system that could help limit flood risk.
The Environment Agency’s estimates of risk of surface water flooding, when stormwater overwhelms local drainage systems, jumped dramatically after the agency updated its models to incorporate the effects of climate change.
The ABI has argued for government planning reforms to remove developers’ automatic right to connect to existing sewage systems, in order to incentivise more investment in drainage infrastructure.
The annual average price of combined building and contents home insurance rose 7 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter to £393.