A third of people affected by winter weather don't have flood insurance

Two thirds of the British population don’t have or don’t know if they have insurance that covers their home for flood damage.

A poll commissioned by PwC, conducted by YouGov, found that 34% of people who said they were affected by the floods and storms this winter don’t have insurance to protect their home from flooding.

Some 37% said they would not be willing to spend anything personally on protecting their home from flooding at the future.

One in five said it was the government’s responsibility to install weather defences in areas at risk of flooded.

PwC Insurance partner Mohammad Khan said: “These findings show that while the majority of people do value having appropriate insurance in place, a huge number of people still aren’t going the extra step and purchasing policies.

“People are in danger of linking future risk to their last experience with the weather, rather than real data. That’s a dangerous mindset given the implications of extreme weather for UK infrastructure, insurance, and housing. Just because you’ve not being affected recently, doesn’t mean you won’t be in future, and it’s certainly no reason to not have adequate cover in place.”