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more. BBC

1:13

Sounds music radio podcasts. Hello. In

1:15

this Moneybox Live podcast, we're talking

1:17

about flooding and insurance because there

1:19

are almost six million homes at

1:21

risk of flooding just in England

1:24

alone. All anxiously watching the weather

1:26

forecasts in the hopes the next

1:28

storm will spare them, but some

1:30

are still cleaning up. It's just

1:32

a couple of weeks after the

1:34

eighth named storm of the season

1:37

hit the country. Storm

1:39

Henk sweeps in across the south of the

1:42

UK, bringing wind gusts of more than 80

1:44

miles an hour flooding and yet more travel.

1:47

Storm Henk batters parts of England and

1:49

Wales, leaving flooding, power outages and transport

1:51

disruption in its wake. Have we ever

1:53

had as much rain as we've had

1:55

this last few weeks? So believable. More

1:57

than 260 flood warnings. remain

2:00

in place for England after the impact of Storm Hank.

2:02

You just go into panic mode, we were

2:04

trying to save everything we could. It's

2:07

psychologically destroyed. You know,

2:09

I say, I don't want

2:11

to be here no more, but you think, what can we do here?

2:14

Well, flooding damages property, damages lives

2:16

and can be incredibly financially damaging

2:18

as well. And as the climate

2:20

changes, insurers expect even more of

2:23

this kind of weather. But

2:25

despite that, new homes are being built

2:28

on floodplains in England without defences to

2:30

protect them. That's according to a parliamentary

2:32

report out today. And that is despite

2:34

there being plenty of warnings about the

2:37

risk. So today on this Moneybox Live

2:39

podcast, we're taking a look at the

2:41

financial impact of the floods. Now,

2:44

before we meet today's experts, let's

2:46

speak to Jacob in Loughborough, who

2:48

was finishing off renovations to merge

2:50

two houses when they both got flooded.

2:52

Jacob, good afternoon. Hi

2:55

there, are you okay? Well, I mean, this must have been

2:57

an absolute disaster. You were in the house at the

2:59

time. Describe what happened. Yeah,

3:02

so my father-in-law, he

3:04

works in a restaurant. So he got back

3:07

from work late about midnight, just as it

3:09

had turned from Tuesday the 2nd

3:11

to Wednesday the 3rd of January.

3:13

And he noticed sort of water

3:15

pooling on the drive, not having

3:18

had absolutely torrential rain, but you know,

3:21

reasonable amounts. We thought it would just sort of stay

3:23

at that. Anyway, about an hour or so later, more

3:25

have come running into Moriam. Jacob, you need to get

3:27

up. You need to get up.

3:30

It's flooding, you know, half way sort

3:33

of went downstairs and there was water

3:35

sort of fairly slowly, but it's

3:37

still far from ideal coming in under the

3:39

doors, the side of the doors, front door,

3:41

back door, side door. So

3:44

we quickly got as many towels as possible

3:46

together, you know, trying to mop it up and

3:48

sort of barricade it and block it. And

3:50

after about 45 minutes of

3:52

that, it was sort of up to our ankle heights and we're

3:54

trying to bucket it down the sink and then come

3:58

about 3am, it was then up to our knees. so

4:00

we just all had to sort of

4:02

evacuate upstairs. I mean

4:04

you paint a real picture, how's

4:06

it looking now? Are you back

4:08

together? Not

4:12

yet but yeah fingers crossed we

4:15

will be downstairs at

4:17

the moment it's just floorboards everywhere

4:19

and we've got four dehumidifiers that we're sort

4:21

of moving around into different positions in the

4:23

house that we've just got running sort of

4:25

around the clock and we're still getting a

4:27

good few buckets a day out of

4:31

those. So it's

4:33

a big job it's going to take you what

4:36

weeks more to fix it? Yeah

4:39

I mean yeah I mean

4:41

fortunate to have not experienced

4:43

this before obviously unfortunate to have ever

4:45

experienced it which obviously we are now

4:48

so we're we're slightly a little

4:50

bit blind in terms of how long it

4:52

will take you know the dehumidifiers etc to

4:54

get rid of the water and then

4:56

and then we can look to you know getting

4:58

carpets replaced etc. Now you

5:01

had home insurance before but it wasn't

5:03

valid now because of all the building

5:05

work you were having done and you

5:07

decided you would wait until the building

5:09

work finished before you got a new

5:11

policy for your new merged property and

5:13

then of course you were flooded. What

5:16

does that mean for the costs? How much has this

5:18

cost you? That

5:22

remains to be seen until yeah

5:24

sort of everything dries out but

5:27

yeah we're talking you know a

5:29

good amount of money not just

5:31

hundreds which is obviously yeah very

5:34

disappointing and devastating. I

5:37

mean yes it can only imagine the

5:39

stress and the pressure of that. Jacob

5:42

thank you stay with us because listening

5:44

to Jacob are today's flooding experts. I'm

5:46

joined by Laura Hughes, Manager of General

5:48

Insurance at the Association of British

5:50

Insurers which represents the industry and Laura you

5:53

also used to work for the Environment Agency

5:55

so you are probably all too

5:57

familiar with flooding. I am indeed yes

5:59

and the devil. station it can cause

6:01

to everybody that experiences it. Mmm people

6:03

like Jacob and also joining us today

6:05

is Heather Sheppard from the Charity National

6:07

Flood Forum. Heather you're a kind of

6:10

unwilling flood expert aren't you? You're regularly

6:12

affected by floods yourself and now you

6:14

help other people. Yes I've never

6:16

been caught up before but yes I suppose so.

6:20

Okay let's talk about Jacob's case. Heather

6:23

obviously he had the intention to get

6:25

insurance once all the work was done.

6:27

This does show the risk of being

6:29

without cover at any time doesn't it? It

6:32

certainly does and one of the main

6:35

advice that we give to people through our

6:37

helpline is please please make sure you're

6:40

insured. I mean even if

6:42

it wasn't floods that could something else could

6:44

have happened to the property so it's really

6:46

important that we make sure that we're covered

6:48

for these sort of emergencies. Mmm and

6:50

if people don't have insurance and

6:52

some people won't or don't want

6:54

disaster strikes is there anything

6:56

else they can do? Are there other sources of

6:58

financial help? I mean again

7:01

if you're having trouble with insurance or

7:03

gaining insurance then really to find the

7:05

help that you need to get it

7:07

because it's actually important that you've got

7:09

cover so you again you can ring

7:11

the National Flood Forum helpline to do

7:13

that but other than that through the the

7:15

grant system in the moment that's been announced

7:17

by DEFRA there is some support

7:19

for people. £500 that will be given

7:22

very quickly to give people cash

7:25

quickly and immediately to cope with costs

7:27

but also for giving a £5,000 grant

7:30

for Flood Hit properties

7:32

owners to make their homes and

7:34

businesses more resilient and small and

7:36

medium businesses will get

7:38

£2,500 towards recovery grants as

7:40

well. Now I should say that's

7:43

why the financial support is for

7:45

areas in England and so only for

7:47

eligible property owners so it's called the

7:49

property flood resilience repair grant scheme

7:52

and councils decide the criteria so it's worth

7:54

checking what they offer. Jacob

7:56

thank you so much for starting our program with

7:59

a pretty cautioned retail and best of

8:01

luck withdrawing it all out. Laura,

8:03

it's too late for poor Jacob in terms of

8:05

his insurance. For other people,

8:08

there are specialist policies aren't there? He could have

8:10

taken out but would have covered the property during

8:13

that building work. Absolutely. So

8:15

we always advise people to get insurance

8:17

as soon as they can. If you're

8:19

buying a new home, that should be

8:21

for building insurance from the moment you

8:23

exchange when you've got that

8:25

financial investment in that property. And

8:28

if you are doing significant

8:30

renovation or construction works to your property,

8:33

even if you've got a current policy, we always

8:35

suggest that you should give your insurer a call,

8:37

have a chat with them and just let them

8:39

know that you're doing these works. And then make

8:41

sure that you're covered for any additional issues

8:44

that could happen during that construction

8:46

or renovation phase as well. I

8:49

just also wanted to touch on Jacob's comment

8:51

about getting those carpets replaced. Really good idea

8:53

not to put carpets back in Jacob but

8:56

get some more resilient floor that would not

8:59

be such a problem if it was to flood again. Something

9:02

that doesn't soak up the water quite so easily.

9:05

Last year, £352 million was

9:07

paid out by insurers for damage

9:09

caused to homes just by Storms Babette,

9:12

Kieran and Debbie at the end of last

9:14

year. Now, we don't yet know the full

9:16

cost of Storm Henk. What

9:18

other reasons might somebody's insurance be invalid

9:20

other than what Jacob saw? What should

9:23

people watch out for? I

9:25

think generally speaking, your insurance, as long as

9:28

you've been very clear with your insurer and

9:30

honest when you've purchased your policy, you

9:32

should be covered for everything that you're

9:35

covered for. Now, flood and storm is

9:37

very standardly included within that policy. So

9:39

it's always a good idea when you're

9:41

buying to make sure you understand what

9:43

you're covered for and the insurer will

9:45

be really clear. Well, the broker, if

9:47

you're buying for a broker, will be

9:49

extremely clear with you at

9:51

the beginning on what is not included.

9:54

We do say it every time we talk about insurance, Don't we

9:56

though?, Read The small print. It does really

9:58

matter in cases like this. Right If

10:00

your car was repeatedly stolen and

10:02

your insurance would quite quickly become.

10:05

Unaffordable thought. When someone like Jacob comes

10:07

to ensure his property again, he is

10:09

likely to be able to find affordable

10:11

premiums. and that's despite the A Despite

10:14

the flood risk that is thanks to

10:16

a Uk wide reinsurance scheme called Flood

10:18

read: Heather Dell. The many people listening

10:21

who are blessed with not having to

10:23

think about reinsurance can you briefly explain

10:25

what Flood Reed is and what difference

10:28

it makes? The people like Jacob. Sorry,

10:31

they're not. Shelf lottery is an initiative.

10:33

To train the insurance industry

10:35

and the government and basically

10:37

to flood reentry to see

10:39

said scheme which promotes and

10:41

provides affordability and availability of

10:43

insurance to the Uk households

10:45

as a high flood risk.

10:48

It makes a huge difference that

10:50

the Muppets it's not easy to

10:52

know whether decent policy you are

10:54

taking out have a connection with

10:56

Slippery Say again it's always a

10:58

good idea to ask and is

11:00

a bit bored of procedure taking

11:03

out. That and it it it

11:05

is easy to connect to be

11:07

flummery Some the idea is that

11:09

everybody everybody who's and Sarah's are

11:11

or possibly they pay a bit

11:13

more funds the scheme and then

11:15

flood risk homes can get more

11:17

affordable. Cover they won't find themselves

11:19

priced out of insurance Other premium

11:22

still affected by this address. Yes,

11:25

I mean if. You happen to be

11:27

insured by someone knocks at to

11:29

slavery then a premium Nexus is the

11:31

hot a high However we are finding

11:34

from our helpline and national platform that

11:36

people are saying or even with a

11:38

flood to read at connection that there

11:41

seem to be quoting higher. Thank

11:44

you! I'm Laura. We should make it

11:46

really clear suddenly not everyone is protected

11:48

by Slattery, only older homes. Say

11:51

generally speaking are and ensure a

11:53

little determine whether. a

11:55

property guys into said we are not the if

11:57

they're not putting it into said read and now

11:59

i'm still continue to provide that flood

12:02

clever unless they're clear that it's

12:04

not included. But you're right that there are

12:06

some properties out of scope of flood re-in

12:09

that was an agreement between government and insurers

12:11

that buildings built after 2009 are not included

12:13

and that's really

12:16

to dis-encourage the development of properties in high

12:18

flood risk areas being built where they shouldn't

12:21

be and then that's not causing the problem

12:23

of flood risk in the UK to get

12:25

even worse than it already is. Although that

12:27

parliamentary report we might look at again in

12:30

a moment suggests it's not necessarily working. Right

12:32

businesses are also not part of the scheme

12:34

and I went to meet Bev Turner who

12:36

has several rental properties on the banks of

12:39

the River Severn in Beudley. One

12:41

side of the town has flood defences and

12:43

on Bev's side they haven't yet been built.

12:46

Right here we go. So

12:49

yeah this is the property

12:51

that was flooded or has

12:54

been flooded every year and

12:56

obviously since then we haven't been able to rent it

12:58

out. So it's been

13:00

empty now since 2018. 2019 sorry.

13:03

All of the floods now we're going to because

13:06

of the emergency because

13:20

I don't get insurance either. We

13:24

don't qualify for flood risk because we're

13:27

a business. Households

13:29

do but we don't. So

13:31

the insurance company this time did

13:33

try to gain some flood

13:35

insurance for us but as soon as I said

13:37

how much time has it been flooded it was a

13:40

no-go. Right now we haven't

13:42

a certain percentage so we just

13:44

have to do what we can. Well

13:46

what will you do? What will it mean for

13:48

your finances, for your business if a property is

13:50

flooded and you don't have that protection in place?

14:01

It's lost the brand. It costs us

14:03

an awful lot of money. With the electricity,

14:05

the weight is,

14:08

and the utility bills obviously, you

14:10

have to have these dry equipment

14:12

going through three or four weeks

14:14

at a time. So the

14:16

utility bills are colossal. It's just

14:18

everything. It's a knock-on effect with

14:20

everything. That was

14:22

bad there. Laura, businesses aren't protected

14:24

by flood re-like homes. Why is

14:27

that? That's

14:29

largely because businesses are,

14:32

or many of them, are profit-making. So

14:34

why is it fair for a very

14:36

profitable cafe by the riverside, and they've

14:38

chosen that site because that's

14:40

where they're going to get most footfall, and

14:43

making a lot of money there, to be

14:45

then subsidised by a struggling hairdresser at the

14:47

top of the hill. So that's how it

14:49

works for home insurance, is everybody that buys

14:51

insurance is helping to subsidise the people of

14:54

flood risk. And it was determined with government

14:56

and the insurance industry that that's not fair

14:58

to do so with businesses. We have

15:01

created some things that can help businesses,

15:03

though. Flood Re, the British Insurance Brokers

15:05

Association and ABI have created a signposting

15:07

service that should help people that are

15:10

not in scope of flood re be

15:12

able to determine how they can speak

15:14

to the right brokers, the right insurers,

15:16

to see what sort of policies they

15:19

can obtain that's not within flood re.

15:22

And Margaret had emailed to ask exactly that question, so

15:24

I hope it's answered it for you, Margaret. Laura,

15:26

the Public Accounts Committee has published a

15:29

report today expressing that concern

15:31

about new homes being built

15:33

on flood plains, calling it

15:35

unforgivable. And MPs also said more than 200,000 properties

15:38

are at risk because flood defences have

15:41

not been maintained. How worried

15:44

are insurers about the flood risks

15:46

rising? Yeah, I'm

15:48

sure I'm really worried. As we've seen, eight storms

15:50

in the last three months is really ramping up

15:53

the significant impact that climate change is having, and

15:55

we know that's only going to get worse. Clearly,

15:58

building new homes. for people is

16:00

an important agenda across

16:03

the UK, but doing that in a

16:05

resilient and resistant way to not causing

16:07

further devastation for people down the line

16:09

is a really, really important part of

16:11

what needs to happen from a government

16:14

house building objective. And then on

16:16

the flood defence side of things,

16:18

clearly investment in new

16:21

flood defences is really important, but that

16:23

should not be at the risk of

16:25

not maintaining differences that are

16:28

already built and already protecting people.

16:30

And we, as the ABI

16:33

and the insurance industry, really encourages government

16:35

to look at those levels

16:37

of investment for both maintenance and capital

16:39

expenditure. Well, the government told us that

16:41

between 2021 and 2027, it's making record

16:43

investment in flood defences

16:47

of £5.2 billion. I've actually

16:50

been talking to insurers about this

16:52

in the UK, Australia and the

16:54

US. And you can find my

16:56

documentary Uninsurable Planet on BBC Sounds

16:58

right now. We look at that

17:00

issue of becoming harder for

17:03

communities to afford insurance. And we hear

17:05

from more people in Beudley living with

17:07

an ongoing flood risk. So do check

17:09

that out. Right. We know flood re-means

17:12

everyone pays a bit more and that

17:14

covers the flooding fund. Let's just go

17:16

back to the cost of home insurance.

17:18

We've had this voicemote. Hi

17:21

Moneybox Live. This is Jenny from

17:23

Hertfordshire. My renewal quote for

17:25

home insurance has gone up from £437.18 to £1,435.02

17:27

this year. The letter stated, following

17:40

changes to weather patterns, we have

17:42

reviewed the risk associated with your

17:44

property and your renewal reflects

17:46

this. I have never

17:49

made a claim. I have lifted my

17:51

house since it was built in 1999

17:53

and the road has never had an

17:55

issue with flooding. How can

17:57

this increase be justified? Lord,

18:00

That is a massive hike for Jenny up

18:02

by a grand. We've also had a message

18:04

from Ian who says, we've had the opposite

18:06

issue to that faced by many of your

18:08

listeners. Our house has never flooded or been

18:11

at risk of flood, but our house has

18:13

been flagged as a flood risk and our

18:15

premiums have rocketed. Now, I know you

18:17

don't know the details of either of

18:19

their insurance applications, but why might someone's

18:21

renewal quote go up by so much?

18:25

So I think on the flood specific

18:27

point or the weather related point, clearly

18:29

we're seeing a lot more storms. We're

18:31

seeing a lot more flood risk and

18:33

as we all know, climate change isn't

18:35

getting any better. So although

18:37

an individual might have never flooded before or never

18:39

thought that they were in a flood risk area,

18:42

it might well be that they are now at

18:44

risk of flooding where they previously weren't. So that's

18:46

going to be a factor to it. But

18:50

what we're also seeing across the

18:52

board for everybody's home insurance premiums

18:54

and indeed car insurance premiums are

18:56

an increase in those premiums. And

18:58

that's for homes really

19:00

related to changes in construction materials. We

19:03

know that building materials have increased by

19:05

18% over the last year and

19:09

have been increasing for a long period

19:11

of time. We've also got difficulties in

19:14

access to labor following Brexit, impacts

19:17

on the global reinsurance market having an impact

19:19

on individual insurers in the UK, increasing

19:22

costs of energy, all those struggles

19:24

that we're seeing

19:26

across the UK, insurance companies are seeing

19:28

that too. So we are unfortunately at

19:30

the moment seeing an increase more generally

19:32

across the board for home and car

19:34

insurance premiums. I mean you've described what

19:36

we would usually use the phrase a

19:38

perfect storm for. Right,

19:41

no household, no insurer wants to

19:43

keep bailing out a flooded home.

19:45

Flood re also offers a scheme

19:47

called Build Back Better. This

19:49

gives householders the chance to install

19:51

flood defenses and other resilience measures

19:53

worth up to £10,000 While

19:56

they're repairing their property after a flood.

19:58

But Adrian's been. To the

20:00

he applied for that money through his

20:02

insurance company Access which is listed as

20:05

having signed up to the Bills Back

20:07

Better scheme. We. Have a

20:09

flood, On the

20:11

fourth of December and the be

20:13

contacted our insurance company to start

20:15

the insurance process am and it

20:18

as part of that we had

20:20

a at a meeting with our

20:22

our last adjuster who mentioned the

20:25

build Back Better scheme. In

20:27

order to. Build

20:29

back some resilience into the property and

20:31

starts hundred. A fantastic idea of a

20:33

scheme was up to ten thousand and

20:35

we we have some priced at about

20:38

that amounts to put in a flood

20:40

gates am and a resilient fence around

20:42

the property. So. We

20:44

did go to when our insurance.

20:47

Company's website and that. and we did

20:49

find a press release saying that they

20:51

say had signed up. Back. In

20:54

I think it was January. Twenty Twenty

20:56

three. We. Try to approach

20:58

are insurer. They sent us an

21:00

email that nasty said our insurance

21:02

company sells have signed up to

21:05

it but Odeon principal at this

21:07

stage. The. I wonder what that

21:09

principal was for, whether whether whether they

21:11

gain the recognition for signing up for

21:13

Sam without actually having to implement it.

21:16

Stream really hear the disbelief in his

21:18

voice us we ask Lax about his

21:21

son and the told us that it

21:23

signed up to flood read filled that

21:25

better skied in twenty Twenty three but

21:27

the scheme has not yet been implemented

21:30

and we are putting in place very

21:32

standards and processes to launch this for

21:34

customers as soon as possible. It's worth

21:36

pointing out Axa are not the only

21:39

insurance company his signed up but not

21:41

actually gone lies with the scheme yet.

21:43

Money Lox has identified three other insurers.

21:46

Laurent you represent the process insurance

21:48

industry thera for answers his customers.

21:51

my easily be convinced that got

21:53

this cover. And they don't is not

21:55

fair. Say the fasting I say

21:57

as it's really clear on the said We website

21:59

east. The you know a large rewards.

22:01

I like to their and so I

22:03

appreciate that but I'm just saying today's

22:06

listings day might be less. Them having

22:08

alert i'm Phil out by to is

22:10

a really positive step in the right

22:12

direction. Home insurance has never been about

22:14

betterment about making people seemed even so

22:16

than they were before I'm and this

22:18

is a concept that is doing exactly

22:21

that for those that are struggling size

22:23

am I thought I'd try to replace

22:25

her are very so free agent thinking

22:27

this is about to get an extra

22:29

ten thousand pounds and then find out

22:31

he's not so. I think

22:33

you know it's just it's a really positive

22:35

step forward in the industry. Signing up to

22:37

this, there are a number of ensures that

22:40

doing it is only been available for eighteen

22:42

months. and it's it's in the process of

22:44

getting used. More and more so I think

22:46

I I I appreciate. It.

22:49

Might not be helping a general encourage him

22:51

to have enough at the potential grants to

22:53

available from government as had the mentioned earlier

22:56

and time in and it's a second step

22:58

in the right direction from the insurance industry

23:00

perspective and will get better and better once

23:02

insurance have managed to implement that the next

23:05

steps. But in the meantime if you're taking

23:07

out a home. Insurance policy at building insurance

23:09

policy and you are facing you have that

23:11

other units us. Not to set your

23:13

answer website but don't have a little flood

23:15

Reeve website. Yeah, it's really

23:18

good idea that we got loads of

23:20

really useful information on and available for

23:22

individual said have an accident site. While

23:24

we mentioned flood defenses as the that

23:26

we we've talked a bit about what

23:28

communities guess I from be let's hear

23:30

from Nyc and with stuff He lives

23:32

in a fairly remote location and he

23:34

was never going to be a prior

23:36

seats for any kind of state funded

23:38

flood senses. See done it himself. He

23:40

has built a massive flood fool around

23:43

his home and garden. Living.

23:45

By the river was part of the

23:47

attraction is a beautiful part of was

23:49

the shift that were live in Ah

23:51

but just occasionally we do get the

23:54

water from the river seven surrounding our

23:56

house. In the last four four and

23:58

a half years we've had. Ten

24:01

Flood. The

24:03

world is. Made

24:05

of hello concrete blocks which

24:08

is an filled with concrete

24:10

a Scots reinforce bar in

24:12

it to make it extremely

24:14

strong. It's

24:17

about one hundred and ten meters long. It

24:20

cost around about eighty thousand

24:23

pounds. It's definitely a remote

24:25

goods type of undertaking. It's

24:27

like building an extension on

24:29

your house. It will might

24:31

the house reasonable. When we.

24:33

Do eventually come to resell. Service

24:35

in my book is worth it.

24:38

A. Syndicate absolutely as bless it.

24:40

I seen pictures of his house

24:43

when it's flooded and it is

24:45

literally an island. Just his woulda

24:47

property standing alone in the water

24:50

cover. Obscene. More people taking these

24:52

types of really extreme descents measures.

24:55

And yes the are with singles of

24:57

people invest in. This that to

25:00

say rearing stream. You were a

25:02

nose p poo that and you know

25:04

would never have. That kind of

25:06

choice of bands to that kind

25:08

of decisions and that enough to

25:10

them. It's you know, getting through

25:12

the weekends ensuring that something is

25:14

there to eat at the end

25:16

of weeks. So I think the

25:18

you know we have. We

25:21

have that. Needn't.

25:23

Worry of people with it cannot

25:26

possibly a food from Aziz. Resilient

25:28

things. And they are expensive. and and

25:30

and those people who decide to invest

25:32

in it who are able to financially

25:35

do that yet mean you're absolutely right.

25:37

A lot of people struggle to fund

25:39

and eighty thousand, how would I did?

25:41

See a lot of small scale flood

25:43

protections and usually run me through that

25:46

kinds of action people can take. And

25:49

there is so. People.

25:52

Imbued li have got to have what's

25:54

called pf are prof sea level resilience,

25:56

a disease and special tools and i'm

25:59

separate coppers. and

26:01

pumps. Pumps are usually very important

26:03

and size pump is very important

26:06

and they can use these to

26:09

try and keep the water out or keep it

26:11

at a level that's more manageable within the property.

26:13

Sometimes they can also keep the flood

26:15

out if you're lucky but they're there

26:17

to resist the water and

26:20

give you more time to prepare for

26:22

flooding. However there are people in

26:24

in Buteley that have suffered with

26:26

this flood still. Absolutely.

26:31

What about, obviously not for Nick

26:33

almost on his own building

26:35

a wall, but if you're in a community that's

26:37

regularly flooded, can you request defenses?

26:40

Can you proactively go and ask

26:42

for them to be put up?

26:44

So lots of communities

26:47

who form flood action groups are actually

26:49

working with flood risk management teams to

26:51

see what there is that they can

26:53

do to mitigate their flood risk, working

26:55

in partnership with those teams. Unfortunately most

26:57

schemes or any opportunities

26:59

there are hit against the government's

27:02

cost criteria and this

27:04

is called the FDGIA criteria for

27:06

funding where it's made up. And

27:09

if they don't reach that business

27:11

case, they can't make that business

27:13

case, then there isn't the funds

27:15

available. Laura we heard

27:17

a message from Pat who says, I

27:20

would like to ask why insurance companies

27:22

don't reduce premiums for customers like myself

27:24

who spent time and money putting flood

27:26

resilient measures into their homes? Well

27:29

I'd suggest having a conversation with your

27:31

insurer but flood re and insurers

27:34

are working on being able to

27:36

create some form of certification about

27:38

the resilience measures you've put in

27:40

your home. So it would really

27:42

easily help to determine

27:44

how resilient a property would be and

27:46

insurers would be much more easier to

27:48

take that into account. So maybe one

27:50

for the future. Heather, very briefly if

27:52

people are taking really drastic measures like

27:54

Nick, are we just getting to the

27:57

point where some parts of the UK shouldn't have

27:59

homes on them any more? Well,

28:01

it is a worry, isn't it? You know, are we

28:03

at flood risk to run to the hills and abandon

28:05

the rest of the country? You know,

28:07

it's an expense and how long with climate

28:09

change and the impacts it's having on us,

28:12

will they be sustainable? We need

28:14

a far bigger, bolder approach to

28:16

flooding in this country. Thank

28:18

you. Well, that is all we have time

28:21

for in today's podcast. Thank you to everybody

28:23

who got in touch, who took part, and

28:25

thank you, of course, to our panel. We've

28:27

been hearing from Laura Hughes from the Association

28:30

of British Insurers and Heather Shepard from the

28:32

National Flood Forum. If you'd like to get

28:34

in touch with us about what we've been

28:36

talking about today or any financial story you

28:39

want us to take a look at, then

28:41

please do email. It's moneybox at bbc.co.uk and

28:44

include a phone number if you can. In

28:46

this podcast, the producer was Sarah Rogers,

28:48

the studio manager, Kelly Young. Our editor

28:51

is Sarah Wadeson. I'm Felicity Hannah and

28:53

this was a BBC News Money and

28:55

Work production for BBC Sounds. I'm

28:58

John Ronson and I'm back with season

29:00

two of Things Fell Apart, a show

29:03

for BBC Radio 4 that

29:05

unearthed the origin stories of the culture

29:07

wars. This time around the

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stories are all about the

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battlefronts that have lost us during lockdown.

29:14

The stories twist and turn until

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each one ends with the explosion

29:19

of a new, far-reaching culture war.

29:21

If you tell me that

29:23

my nephew had superhuman strength, if

29:26

you tell me that he didn't feel any pain,

29:29

well he's dead now. The

29:31

Things Fell Apart, season two,

29:33

listen on BBC Sounds.