Policy paper

Flood risk and insurance: A roadmap to 2013 and beyond

Summary of findings on working groups continuing the dialogue on flood insurance and risk reduction

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 19 December 2011

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Flood risk and insurance: A roadmap to 2013 and beyond. Final report of the flood insurance working groups

Ref: PB13684

PDF, 271 KB

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Details

Insurance plays a key role in flood risk management. The Government has an agreement with the insurance industry, called the ‘Statement of Principles’, that commits insurers to continue to offer insurance to existing customers where they are at significant risk and where the Environment Agency has announced plans and notified the Association of British Insurers of its intention to reduce that risk within five years. The current agreement is due to end in 2013 and Defra is committed to ensuring that flood insurance remains widely available in England after this point.

Three working groups continued the dialogue on flood insurance and risk reduction and reported back on progress in an interim report in May 2011 and at a follow-up meeting in July 2011.

This report provides a summary of the findings of the working groups, including the recommendations of each of the three groups.

• Working Group 1 identified options for managing the financial risks of flooding after 2013. The Group agreed a set of common principles and tested options against those principles. It gathered evidence, listened to perspectives from community groups, insurers, local government and other experts. Building on the work of Working Group 1, Defra and HM Treasury are continuing to seek views with the aim of reaching a decision on the role of private insurance after 2013 in the spring of 2012.
• Working Group 2 provided a forum to identify issues and suggest improvements to the way that flood risk information is provided and shared. Its aim was to ensure that information on flood risk is transparent and available to all.
• Working Group 3 focused on resistance and resilience measures that individuals could use to reduce their flood risk. The Group considered how resistance and resilience measures could reduce risk, reducing the barriers to the take-up of resilient repair and how such measures could be better promoted and communicated.

Further information

• Flooding - insurance

Published 19 December 2011