With less than three months to go until the expiry of the Statement of Principles, it seems that government, MPs, insurance companies and their associations are still at loggerheads on the best way to fund and prioritise protection for vulnerable homeowners.
Insurance giant Marsh unveiled an alternative model at the second Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee evidence session on 20th March. Termed "Flood Mu", it proposes a mutualised solution to flooding where claims are redistributed over a given period of time among all household insurers relative to their book size.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) issued a damning response to the proposals describing them as "completely unacceptable to insurers". They would not safeguard affordability or place a maximum cap on flood premiums, leaving it to Government to step in and pay premiums or claims, which they felt was unrealistic.
If the Statement of Principles does expire, households at risk of flooding — many more than just the 200,000 high-risk properties — would be at the mercy of the free market, with many facing premiums that are prohibitively high or even not being able to get any coverage at all.
Read more here on the differing proposals and the impact they could have.
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