Supplementary written evidence submitted by the National Flood Forum (FLO0001)

FDGiA

The current regime focuses on an economic assessment of costs and benefits. Many rural or smaller urban communities where there are fewer properties that flood will not be eligible.

There are many communities that have not and will never match these criteria, leaving people with no hope for the future. Rural & inner-city areas often categorised as deprived, are victims of multiple floods which profoundly affect their health and wellbeing.

People repeatedly flooded and must live with the threat of further flooding if a business case is not viable.

We belief what is needed is a funding regime:

• That is not weighted towards PFR but instead gives equal weight to catchment level and multi-intervention approaches that include capital projects.
• That gives more weight to repeat flooding and to smaller communities, both rural and urban
• That does not see value in purely economic terms but understands the human, social and carbon costs of flooding.

Insurance FloodRe and Build Back Better

FloodRe has supported many people to get more affordable insurance. The onus is still on individuals to shop around and find suitable insurance and still there are many people who do not know about the FloodRe or to ask their insurer about it. They are not always told by the insurer.

The exceptions are quite challenging for many people.  

Exceptions  

Houses built after 2009 not covered (AVIVA research Jan 2024 shows 110k homes built-in high-risk areas since 2014, many will not be covered by FloodRe)

Houses in multiple dwelling buildings

Small businesses such as hairdressers

Landlords

Build Back Better

Is a good scheme for those people who have insurance.

                Only 12 insurance companies signed up so far. 

                It is not £10k it is up to £10k and that can look very different depending on each individual case

                Onus is on the individual to raise BBB with the insurance company, they do not necessarily raise it with the buyer. This is different in each individual case no consistent approach as yet

There is no provision for people without insurance. Our helpline calls show a 5% increase in the number of people who do not have insurance in 2024 vs 2020.   We need a new way of looking at insurance that helps those people who currently can’t afford it to access home insurance.

February 2024