Zurich UK has joined Flood Re’s Build Back Better (BBB) scheme to help reduce the impact of future flooding on homeowners.The scheme will enable eligible Zurich customers to access up to £10,000 to pay for the installation of flood resilience measures when repairing their properties after a flood. According to the Association of British Insurers, the annual cost of flood damage across the UK is currently £700m – a figure that is expected to rise. Developers and Councils continue to approve new build housing schemes on flood plains, plus the cost of repairing damage is rising in line with UK inflation.
Flood Re’s Build Back Better scheme aims to limit the financial and emotional cost of flooding by making properties more resistance to floods. Under the solution, flood-hit customers will be able to pay for flood resilience measures such as raised electrical sockets, self-closing air bricks, non-return valves, along with flood-resistant doors and the replacement of wooden floors with waterproof tiling and grout.
Andy Bord, CEO, Flood Re said: “We are delighted that Zurich UK has become the latest major insurer to sign up to our ground-breaking Build Back Better scheme as we know that investing in property level resilience can significantly lessen the damage caused by future flooding, reduce the stress and trauma of those impacted, and enable householders to return to their homes sooner. The addition of Zurich to the already impressive list of insurers taking part in the scheme also marks another major step forward towards our vision for Build Back Better to become a standard part of home insurance policies in the UK.”
PREVENTION AND ALERTS
Zurich is the only UK insurer to offer free counselling to flood-affected customers and their immediate families. The insurer has also pioneered a new approach to managing flood claims, requiring loss adjusters to consider flood resilience improvements as part of flood repairs.
For its local authority customers, Zurich Municipal has launched free flash flood alerts to help protect over 50,000 community assets, from social housing to schools. Zurich Resilience Solutions has also launched new Climate Change Resilience Services to help customers adapt to flood hazards.
In other innovations, Zurich has partnered with AirBnB to expand the range of temporary accommodation options for customers flooded out of their homes, and introduced sustainable reinstatement options, such as repair not replace, to reduce the carbon impact of flooding. The company also pays upfront for drying out costs due to the cost of living crisis.
The Build Back Better scheme will be available to Zurich personal lines customers from later in 2023 following Flood Re’s onboarding process.
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