The Bonfield report first became public in September when the National Resilience Review was published. Since then it has prompted a row between the Environment Agency and the ABI. The reality is that up to now very little of the £1 billion a year the insurance industry has paid out goes towards installing resilience measures in homes and businesses. The British Insurance Brokers Association has also highlighted the benefit to small businesses (see below)

Now there has been an official launch of the Bonfield report along with a number of important new developments including:

• The Property Flood Resilience Action Plan, chaired by Dr Peter Bonfield
• A “one stop shop” advice web portal, www.centre4resilience.org
• the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has produced a new consumer guide

Defra 28 October 2016   Flooding and coastal change

The Property Flood Resilience Action Plan will see Government and industry help people better protect their properties from flooding. A new, independent report launched today will help people better protect their homes and businesses from risk of flooding and recover more quickly if the worst happens.

The Property Flood Resilience Action Plan, chaired by Dr Peter Bonfield, brings together Government and industry and establishes an action plan to ensure property owners are better equipped to prepare for flooding and get back into homes and business sooner if it does. The report explores:

• the role of building regulations and certification, in encouraging use of flood resistant construction methods;
• how rigorous independent standards can provide confidence in flood products across the industry;
• how insurers can further increase their support for property owners installing flood resistant measures, particularly at the repair stage.

A “one stop shop” advice web portal, www.centre4resilience.org, has been established to make it easier for people to find the most relevant information on better protecting their properties against flooding.

This advice – targeted at homeowners, business owners and third parties such as insurers – includes:

• precautionary actions to take to better protect your property from flooding;
• actions to take if your property is in imminent danger from flooding;
• live flood warnings;
• recent case studies and research.

Furthermore, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has produced a new consumer guide to resilient flood repair which insurers are helping to circulate.

A number of the organisations involved in the report are also already working more closely to help recently flooded homeowners – with the Business Emergency Resilience Group (BERG), part of Business in the Community, setting up flood advisory services in three local authorities hit by flooding last winter. Click here to visit the site

The British Insurance Brokers Association has also highlighted the benefit to small businesses

Launched last week, the Defra ‘Property and flood resilience action plan’, is warmly welcomed by the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) and the rest of the insurance industry. The action plan aims to promote and facilitate better uptake of resilience measures for properties at high risk of flood.

The report was produced with input from five task groups. BIBA was part of Task Group 2, responsible for ‘embedding resilience in small businesses’. Chaired by Graham Brogden, Aviva Head of Technical Property Claims, the task group identified a number of key points to highlight to small businesses. These include:

• Making businesses aware of the direct financial benefits they can have by embedding resilience in their business – not just by reducing the damage during a claim, but by way of easier access to a wider choice of insurers and more affordable insurance and improved terms.
• Installing flood resistance products like flood gates, air brick covers and non-return sewer valves, can help prevent water entering property.
• Making properties more resilient will reduce the time taken to make repairs if water does enter the property and therefore reduce down time. Resilience measures could include replacing carpet with hard floors, moving electrical points further up the wall and using waterproof materials in the construction, fixtures and fittings.
• Ensuring that if a business is unfortunate enough to suffer a flood that they consider repairing in a resilient fashion with the help of their insurer and broker, for example raising equipment above likely flood levels.
• Flood resilience can be built into a property at any time – after a major refurbishment or even a fire claim, small businesses should consider make the property more flood resilient at any opportunity.

Click here to read more