Insurance companies have been accused of over-charging people in areas vulnerable to flooding even though a new scheme has been introduced to prevent this. 

United Flood Action Groups in Lancashire claims that premiums for some people have doubled after the introduction of the scheme called Flood Re which is supposed to stop this. 

Flood Re is a not for profit scheme funded by insurers which means that homeowners should be able to find affordable insurance even if their property is at risk of flooding. 

But United Flood Action Groups in Lancashire state: “It has been reported to local Flood Action Groups that despite Flood Re and the recent (Oct 2016) Government Flood Resilience Action Plan, insurance companies are taking the opportunity to increase the premiums of flood victims, sometimes by as much as 50%. It has been stated that they are in some instances refusing to insure previous flood victims at all.” 

How does Flood Re work? 

The organisation collects an annual tax from every home insurer in the UK. 

That tax contributes £180m to a fund each year. 

Insurance companies for homes in areas vulnerable to flooding pass on the flood risk part of the policy to Flood Re to cover. 

Flood Re then takes responsibility for that part of the policy and if a claim for flooding is made the money will be paid via the person’s insurance company from the central Flood Re fund. 

United Flood Action Groups in Lancashire also claim that the Government’s flood risk guidelines are no longer fit for purpose.

It states: “Currently, it appears that the same Flood Risk Assessment criteria are used throughout the country regardless of the wide variation in annual rainfall. The calculations used by developers to determine Flood Risk set out in the Government Planning Guidelines are not robust enough to protect the flood vulnerable from flooding in higher rainfall areas.”

* Many homes and businesses worldwide now have a pack of FloodSax sandless sandbags so they are ready for any flooding emergency. They are space-saving to store but can be transformed into sandbags within minutes simply by adding water. 

Almost three million have now been sold worldwide.