Parents given home insurance warning

Home insurance is needed to protect the gadgets and gizmos of school children as they return to the playground, it has been argued.

This assertion follows claims that parents have shelled out £1.2 billion to send their kids 'back to school'.

According to price comparison website GoCompare, the average child will have £134 spent on them at the start of the school year.

Phil Paterson-Fox, head of home and pet insurance at the site, explained that parents are increasingly faced with the prospect of their children packing their school bags with ever more valuable items.

While parents will manage the challenge in their own way, he observed, it is worth checking the terms of your home contents insurance to know exactly where you stand with regard to items outside the home.

Last week, university students were warned that home insurance should be top of their list of priorities.

A spokesperson for the Association of British insurers explained that this is because a lot of student areas have higher burglary rates.