Promising to cover flooded homes is a failed policy
The ABI flood agreement is now the most worthless document since Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich and said “I have a piece of paper in my hand”.
There are so many caveats and clauses in it that insurers who wish to, can refuse cover on homes that are too at risk of flooding. And so they should.
But having the agreement at all is now deceitful. The public already distrusts insurers. The way they see it, they pay a premium believing they are covered against losses, only to have a loss adjuster turn up at a claim to point out how, in the small print, there are so many exclusions they will not get the full value of their claim.
This agreement looks to same, shot through with holes, leaving the regularly flooded uninsured.
It would be better to be honest and withdraw the agreement altogether. Insure those with acceptable levels of risk and leave the government to either cover those in the worst locations or fund the flood defences and draining infrastructure required to reduce the risks.
The agreement as it stands ties insurers into risks they wish to withdraw from and allows the government to make empty promises of action. Appeasement was proven to fail. It is time the insurance industry dropped it as a tactic.
