Flood Re is a reinsurance scheme created by the UK government and insurance industry to help homeowners in flood-risk areas get affordable flood insurance.

Ahead of Flood Action Week later this year it is highlighting what people who live in flood-risk areas can do to get their properties insured.

It acts as a fund, allowing insurers to pass on the flood risk portion of policies to Flood Re, which covers the cost of claims from pooled premiums.

Before Flood Re existed, households, insurers and government shared a common problem – how to pool the risk of flood insurance.

Prior to Flood Re’s formation, fewer than one in ten homes with a previous flood claim could get quotes from two or more insurers.

Since inception in 2016, more than half a million households have benefitted from a Flood Re policy.

Today 99 per cent of householders at elevated risk of flooding can obtain quotes from 15 or more insurers. And four out of five households with previous flood claims saw a price reduction of more than 50 per cent. 

The existence of Flood Re has spared the UK some of the resulting impacts of flooding including insurance being withdrawn and the potential impact on house prices.

But Flood Re is a medium-term intervention and it will leave the market in 2039 by statute.