Biba issues seven point flood plan

The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) has welcomed Sir Michael Pitt’s extensive report, and laid out a seven point action plan to deal with flooding in the UK.

In a statement BIBA said: "BIBA welcomes in particular the review of insurance for social housing and low income households. Brokers will do everything they can to make access to insurance as fairly priced and as easily available as possible.

"Brokers are also well placed to help businesses become more resilient to flood and offer a range of business interruption and property insurances.

"BIBA and our members will work together with the insurance industry to help disseminate information on flooding to clients at renewal."

BIBA said it wanted to see seven key issues addressed:

• Availability of cover - BIBA and its members will continue to make every effort to make flood insurance available to properties at greater risk of flooding where cover is often refused.
• Government should establish a Cabinet Committee with a remit to improve the country’s ability to deal with flooding and implement the recommendations of the Pitt Review.
• Government should publish an action plan to implement the recommendations of the Pitt Report.
• The proposed Floods and Water Bill must be given sufficient space in the Parliamentary timetable for its rapid implementation.
• The proposed flooding legislation should be a single unifying act that addresses all sources of flooding, clarifies responsibilities and facilitates flood risk management.
• BIBA will work with the Government and insurance industry to deliver a public education programme setting out the benefit of insurance in the context of flooding.
• The Government should review and update the guidance on insurance for all, including a good practice guide for providers of social housing and disseminate it effectively to support the creation of insurance with rent schemes for low income households.

The Pitt Review Final Report follows the interim report from April this year, when BIBA called for eight key actions from its Manifesto to be pursued, including the establishment of a single body to take overall responsibility for flooding and for planning rules for new builds in vulnerable areas to be tightened.

Commenting on the latest development Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s Technical and Corporate Affairs Executive, said: “BIBA has been lobbying the Government with the aim to remove and reduce the effects of flooding - which unfortunately is becoming an all too common occurrence. We are delighted that BIBA’s recommendations have been included in the report.”

Eric Galbraith, BIBA’s Chief Executive, added: “The insurance industry responded extremely well to the 2007 floods. Currently, I believe that access to insurance cover for property in areas susceptible to flood is widely available from BIBA members. To ensure that this can continue, we would urge the Government to announce its action plan taking forward the recommendations as soon as possible."