Home insurance boost for Cumbria

Home insurance customers in Cumbria may be interested in a new pilot scheme being tested that aims to make homes less susceptible to flooding.

Initially, 80 homes in the area will receive the work to improve their flood resilience, with £170,000 being splashed out in Kirkby-in-Furness and Appleby-in-Westmoreland.

Flooding can have devastating effects on a house, destroying property and causing structural damage and almost certainly leading to a home insurance claim.

Those without home insurance would be left to foot the bill themselves if they were affected by an incident of flooding.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has earmarked £500,000 for the new flood protection system, which will be spent across the UK, with the next pilot areas to be decided in the near future.

Minister for climate change and environment Ian Pearson commented: I am pleased to announce that residences in Cumbria have been selected for a new pilot grant scheme to protect individual properties from flooding.

Fears abound that climate change will lead to rising sea levels and therefore a greater threat of flooding and related home insurance claims.