Insurers: Safety net needed for flooding risk

Insurers: Safety net needed for flooding risk

Insurers: Safety net needed for flooding risk

The Association of British Insurers' director-general Otto Thoresen outlines the industry's problems with regard to flooding risk:

"We are running out of time to make sure that people in high risk areas are properly protected from the devastation flooding can cause and the ball is now in the government's court.

"Insurers want to make sure that every home has access to affordable insurance, should the worst happen, and we're concerned that those people most at risk will lose out unless the government considers a safety net.

"We are frustrated with the progress of our talks with the government on this issue and want it to look urgently at a model that would allow flood cover to remain widely available and competitively priced.

"No country in the world has an entirely free market providing universal affordable flood insurance, and action is needed now to avoid 200,000 high-risk homes struggling to afford cover."