By: 1 November 2023
Storm Babet spurs call for improved insurance integration

Dr Eugenia Cacciatori is a senior lecturer in management at Bayes Business School. She has called for better integration of insurance into the UK’s resilience landscape. This comes in the wake of Storm Babet and further Met Office warnings.  

Early autumn saw the UK once again fall victim to flooding, as Storm Babet worked its way across Europe. 

Authorities have evacuated hundreds of homes, and irreparable damage has affected many more. The destruction caused by high winds and heavy rainfall has also caused fatalities.  

Amid the devastation of losing homes and possessions to the storm, many have done so without insurance cover which was either too expensive or too difficult to obtain. Many others have suffered damage that could have been mitigated or avoided 

Dr. Cacciatori argues that insurance schemes must achieve greater accessibility and better integration with resilience to be fit for their purpose.

“Weather-related disasters not only threaten the lives of those that are forced to vacate their homes, but in many cases, the savings of a lifetime and sometimes generations invested in hard-earned private or commercial property can be lost.” 

“Floods can create poverty cycles that are very difficult to escape” 

Schemes arising from coordinated action between governments and the insurance industry have an important part to play. An example of such schemes is Flood Re, which aims to make flood cover more accessible for homes at higher risk. Insurers partially finance Flood Re through a levy.

“Schemes such as Flood Re can help, but only if they help reduce vulnerability in the future,” Dr Cacciatori continued 

“While initiatives at homeowner level are important, much more needs to be done in areas such as planning and building standards, and insurance wealth of knowledge on risk has an important part to play”. 

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Emma Cockings
Emma is a content editor for Claims Media. Emma is a experienced writer with a background in client-centric personal injury for a major firm. She has attended and reported on multiple brokerage events throughout her career.