Downstream News February 2024
Welcome to Downstream News, your regular update from Flood Re
We have lots of exciting news to share including some early insights from the recent storms and a look ahead at what’s coming up in the next few months.
I hope you enjoy reading our updates – feel free to share with your colleagues and should you have any questions the team and I would love to hear from you at comms@floodre.co.uk
Andy Bord – CEO Flood Re
Storm Babet Insights
Following Storm Babet I wanted to share some of our insights with you particularly in relation to BBB. To date we have received over 1,200 claims across all our participants.
We appreciate this is a very busy time for all of you and there are still further Babet claims to process; we would like to remind you that if you have any issues with your claims submissions please contact support@floodre.co.uk. We will be happy to assist you with any queries.
Babet was the first Storm since we went live with BBB. Therefore, we are particularly interested in its impact on the market.
- Of our total claims so far, approximately half were submitted by participants who are live with Build Back Better.
- Of these eligible claims we are seeing almost 1 in 3 where a resilient repair is being progressed as a part of the claim.
We are delighted that BBB is already helping hundreds of families. This is a really strong start for the initiative, however it is only the beginning. The recent spate of storms: Babet, Ciaran, and Henk vividly illustrate just how important it is that we rapidly extend BBB across the whole market and ramp up take up by householders. Below we detail some of the things that Flood Re is doing to share best practices and support our cedants in delivering BBB.
Build Back Better
Build Back Better is coming up to its two-year anniversary and we are very excited about the fact that over 75% of the home insurance market could have access to this benefit.
BBB can make a positive difference to those households that experience the trauma of a flooded home, and still remain at risk of future flooding. We are really learning from your insight following the recent sequence of storms and looking at how to fine tune this proposition to ensure that everyone has the confidence to deliver it effectively to the homeowners who need it.
With Consumer Duty in mind, participants not yet onboarded are urged to consider their BBB proposition. Please contact the Flood Re team for information and support. We will continue working with already onboarded participants on opportunities to further grow their BBB offering. The market goal is for BBB to be a ‘normal’ part of home insurance coverage
To help everyone understand the principles of BBB we have turned them into a handy animation which can be viewed here: Build Back Better Animation
You can explore a house fitted with PFR measures via an interactive video which is hosted on our Be Flood Smart hub page here: Be Flood Smart
We have also furnished our live BBB insurers with a ‘cheat sheet’ which can be filled out and shared with internal staff, brands and brokers to help understand the parameters of the proposition – handy if you want to check the finer points of the proposition and want to make sure the customer is getting the right information.
Last year we hosted two informative day in the interests of BBB and PFR education. We hope to host more of these this year but in the meantime are hosting free online lunch and learn sessions to access the same information. Sign up to the sessions HERE
Flood Re Quinquennial Review
Flood Re’s Second Statutory Review (“QQR2”)
Flood Re continues to carry out its second Quinquennial Review, the findings of which will be published in July 2024 as planned. A large number of insurance industry stakeholders have now participated in two sequential, in-depth “workshops”, alongside government policy makers and other important Flood Re stakeholders. Flood Re is grateful for the enormous enthusiasm and collaborative thinking that these sessions have produced. The recent “Build Back Better Thematic Review” and certain other current Transition-focussed projects have also provided important content which the Flood Re Board discussed at its Strategic meeting in December. Work will continue this quarter to shape the proposed package of recommendations and Flood Re will continue to hold smaller targeted sessions with stakeholders on certain topics, as necessary.
Updates from our Operations Team
Inward Premium Update
We would like to take the opportunity to remind all cedants and their agents that we are changing the premiums that insurers incur when ceding a policy to Flood Re. From 01 April 2024 the premium charged by Flood Re for policies ceded to the Scheme will rise by 5%. The effective date of changes to the premiums remains 1 April 2024.The tables with details of the current premiums and the new 2024/25 inward reinsurance premiums can be viewed here: FAQs – Flood Re
Changes to our email system
Flood Re are currently in the process of implementing additional email security of its outgoing Email, specifically those which contain attachments. Therefore, instead of receiving attachments in the previous ‘zip’ format, you will receive a link which will allow you to access the attachment from a secure platform. It will look something like the below:
If you have any issues accessing the link you receive you may need to seek assistance from your IT team in case it is blocked by your local policies. If you persist in having issues accessing the attachments via our new method, then please contact us to discuss possible resolutions.
Flood Re presents the Flood Resilient Garden
We are delighted to share the very exciting news that we will be presenting a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show 2024!
Flood Re is delighted that the RHS has selected Flood Re to present a garden with a dynamic water level, so that visitors can watch the garden respond and adapt to the water. We are working in conjunction with Naomi Slade, a prominent garden designer and Ed Barsley, a specialist in environmental design and resilience. Together, we will be presenting ‘The Flood Resilient Garden’ which is specifically designed to adapt to extreme wet weather, absorbing and diverting water away from the home, and playing its part in the flood resilience strategy.
With one in four homes in the UK now at risk of flooding and the associated physical and psychological trauma, gardens can play an important role in reducing this risk whilst still offering households a calming yet purposeful sanctuary. Focus to date has been on how to physically adapt the homes themselves to improve their resistance / resilience to future floods. However, using a show garden at Chelsea Flower Show in May 2024, we will demonstrate how people can use their garden or even small outdoor space to mitigate and reduce their risks, including through Building Back Better. Communities with such gardens will increase their collective resilience too.
Flood Re has a fixed lifespan of 25 years. Between now and 2039 much must be done to reduce the risk of flooding and the damage caused by it. This is a unique and prestigious opportunity for us to reach a wider audience than ever before, with the fantastic TV and media reach of Chelsea Flower Show to help us achieve one of our key objectives: to raise awareness of the risk of flooding and to share practical adaptation steps which households can translate into their own spaces.
The extreme weather experienced across the UK over the last couple of weeks has been a stark and tragic reminder to us all of the impact extreme weather can have and the need to adapt our way of living to help protect us against future events.
We are also delighted that following the event in May the garden will be transported to a specially selected ‘forever home’ site at Howberry Park where it will form part of their existing Hydrascape. Visitors will be able to see the role of outdoor space in more holistic risk mitigation.
We hope that the garden will inspire current households, garden designers and future property developers.
Please visit our Hub Page to find out more.
The Flood Insurance Directory celebrates two years!
We collaborated with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and The British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) in February 2022 to provide a list of specialist firms to help homeowners who are struggling to access insurance locate appropriate cover. All the specialists listed went through a vetting process before being added to the list and it can be used to search for cover regardless of whether a policy is eligible for Flood Re.
We are thrilled to celebrate this anniversary and that the service has been used to help so many householders in its lifetime and look forward to seeing the continued success.
More information about finding insurance for flood risk homes and some handy tips can also be found in the Flood Insurance Directory leaflet
Flooding Hot Topics
Our head of research has the following updates to share:
1. London Climate Resilience Review Publishes interim report
Following the flash floods in 2021 and the 40° heatwave in 2022, the Mayor of London commissioned an independent review to make recommendations to guide London’s preparations for more extreme weather. It has now published an interim report containing 20 recommendations. Increased surface water flooding was identified as a key risk. It recommends that Defra reconsider the recommendations of the Thames Estuary 2100 10-year review, that authorities along the river and riparian areas undertake an audit of their assets, that Defra enacts “Schedule 3” and require Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, and that a Strategic Surface Water Authority for London be created. It also notes the importance of pursuing Nature-Based Solutions, in terms of the clearest win-win actions with both adaptation and mitigation benefits. Feedback by February 16 is welcomed.
SOURCE
2. One in Thirteen New Homes Built in Flood Zones, according to Aviva
Analysis reveals one in thirteen (equivalent to almost 110k) new homes in last decade built in flood zone. Since 2013/more than 14m new homes have been completed in England, with 8% built in national flood zone 3, which represents the highest risk from flooding. This data comes from the same dataset Flood Re reported on in its 2023 Transition plan (p29), as one of its transition indicators. LV’s research in the autumn similarly tracked housing approvals in flood zones. As part of its research, Aviva also surveyed residents of homes built in the last 5 years and found that 59% believe their home is at risk from flooding, compared with 41% of residents of homes built pre-2018. Further findings of the research and survey can be found in their study HERE
3. National Audit Office determines that flood defence spending will not meet original targets, number of properties at risk of flooding to grow
The National Audit has assessed Defra’s progress in delivering the first two years of its flood and coastal erosion risk management capital spending programme, against the backdrop of its 2020 policy statement and EA’s 2020 strategy, as well as the EA’s performance in maintaining existing flood defence assets. They determined that the £5.2bn in spending allocated to the EA’s capital spending program will only be able to better protect up to 200k properties, which is down by 40%. Furthermore, a shortfall of £34 million in the EA’s annual resource funding for 2022-23 meant that EA would only be able to maintain 94%-95% of its assets at the required condition resulting in over 200k properties at increased risk of flooding. The program’s original target of no net increase in properties at risk of flooding will not be achieved according to the NAO, and that flood risk is growing nationally in spite of considerable spending.
SOURCE
4. Sustainability and Insurance recommendations for the year ahead, post-COP28
Following COP28, Oliver Wyman has released a short insight piece on trends and opportunities in sustainability for insurers. These trends include: the important role of insurers in the climate transition, transition plans and targets, and the growth of mandatory sustainability disclosures. One of these was the need to scale adaptation and resilience, which references a longer report on resilience that they released pre-COP28 which includes brief discussion of Flood Re as a market-based resilience mechanism, and points to resilience and adaptation as a £71bn annual revenue opportunity. It notes that changing how claims are fulfilled as one of these – Flood Re’s Build Back Better scheme represents one of the early examples of how this new approach can further reinforce the value of insurance for consumers and contribute to a more resilient future.
SOURCE
5. Climate Change Committee publishes inception reports for several projects
The Climate Change Committee, in addition to its assessments of UK progress on issues such as emissions and adaptation, also undertakes foundational research into climate-related issues. It undertook 6 projects in 2023, which published their inception reports in November 2023 that provide an overview of key themes and initial findings for the projects. A project on valuing costs and benefits of climate change risk and adaptation policy identifies strengths and weaknesses of the current approaches for a notoriously difficult subject, with a goal of moving towards a better way of ensuring consistency among these approaches. Other projects focus on spatial assessments, or attributing climate change within natural hazard impacts.
SOURCE
Flood Re’s partnership with Career Ready
Career Ready are a UK-wide charity at the heart of a network of employers and educators who all believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to enjoy a rewarding future. Career Ready internships are not traditional ‘work experience.’ Students get the chance to experience the working week in a real business environment, doing a job that benefits the employer and putting into practice what they’ve learnt on the programme so far. The Career Ready internship at Flood Re takes place during the summer holidays between years 12 and 13. The Internship Supervisor plays an essential role throughout the experience, helping the student to achieve their learning outcomes and develop the skills and attitudes needed in the workplace.
- 98% of students went onto a positive destination after graduating from the programme
- 82% of students would, following their internships, consider working for their employer in the future
- 75% of employers said, given the opportunity, they would hire their Career Ready intern
Flood Re has worked with Career Ready since 2017 and over the course of 2017 to 2023 supported 13 internships. This is a fantastic opportunity to support young people and it is a really rewarding experiencing watching the student grow during their time with us. Emma Holroyde & Emily White have said the below on how rewarding she found it:
“I signed up for Career ready to be a mentor last year and found it more rewarding than I could have guessed. Not only did I have a wonderful student to mentor but I was lucky enough to lead an intern for 4 weeks over the summer. I learned so much from them and had such amazing feedback about what they learned from me I was motivated to encourage 2 of my colleagues to sign up for this year – I can’t wait to meet my new mentee later this month!” – Emma Holroyde
“I felt very proud to work for an organisation that supported the Career Ready Internship program. It was a privilege to be part of someone’s introduction to the world of work, and seeing our day-to-day through the eyes of someone new to the workplace altogether was really valuable. I enjoyed working with our intern, Michael, and would highly recommend the program.” – Emily WhiteHere are our brilliant interns from the summer of 2023 enjoying the view at the top of the Gherkin with Andy Bord at the launch of our Transition Plan:
Working at Flood Re
Last year we were honoured to be awarded with both the Insurance Post Best Insurance Employer in the SME category (3rd place), AND with the IB UK 5 star DE&I Employer and 2023 Top Insurance Employer!
We were also thrilled to be awarded the Great Place to work award after an all staff survey!
We’re always looking to add incredible new talent to our team – please check out our current vacancies on our website here: VACANCIES
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