Plans to introduce the flood-related equivalent of an Energy Performance Certificate moved closer this week following publication of new research into a standardised data template for the systematic collection and documentation of household resilience and flood risk information.
Flood Performance Certificates (FPCs) will provide householders with an assessment of their property’s resilience to flooding.
The research, commissioned by government-back insurance scheme, Flood Re, and conducted by RAB Consultants and claims service provider Sedgwick, establishes a standardised dataset and assessment framework for FPCs, combining property characteristics, flood hazard, and existing Property Flood Resilience (PFR) measures.
A consistent data collection template is crucial to assessing property-level flood performance nationally. Under current plans, FPCs will be piloted by the end of 2026 with a view to national rollout from 2028.
The aim is for FPCs to become an accepted part of the market well ahead of Flood Re’s scheduled exit from the insurance market in 2039 when flood insurance will return to risk-based pricing.
Flood Re, which receives a subsidy to purchase insurance so that households that would not be able to get insurance in an open market can access affordable premiums, believes FPCs are critical to driving the uptake of PFR as insurance returns to risk-based pricing from 2039.
Jonathan Kassian, head of flood resilience at Flood Re, said: “FPCs have huge potential to help householders understand how to protect themselves from flooding, improving the resilience of the country’s housing stock and helping ensure flood insurance will remain accessible and available for households in the long-term.
“The measurement of a property’s resilience to flooding will give householders greater awareness of their home’s resilience and risk, add transparency to the market, and incentivise action. With the release of this data collection framework, we are nearing the completion of the standardisation phase of our FPC roadmap, and will start the pilot phase by the end of this year. ”
Russell Burton, managing director of RAB Consultants, said: “Our research has shown that FPCs have the potential to transform how we recognise and reward flood resilience at property level. By setting out a consistent way to capture property-level flood risk and resilience information, we can help move the conversation from simply understanding flood risk to actively recognising and rewarding the steps people take to reduce it.
“That has the potential to support greater uptake of property flood resilience measures, strengthen confidence in Build Back Better, and help create a more resilient housing market as flood insurance moves towards risk-based pricing.”
Earlier this week Flood Re said it will more than halve premiums for contents-only policies in Council Tax Bands A and B from £52 to £25 from April 2027, for both homeowners and renters.
