A Conservative MP has launched an attack on insurers, claiming they have ‘brought their industry into disrepute’ in their handling of claims relating to last winter’s floods.
Nigel Adams, Tory MP for for Selby and Ainsty, said insurers were ‘happy to take the premiums but want to wriggle out of their responsibilities’, the Financial Times reports. Adams now wants Prime Minister David Cameron to extend Flood Re to SMEs.
He told the FT: “Some can’t get insurance now and when they can their premiums are being hiked to unaffordable levels. We should not be treating small businesses any different to householders.”
That, however, seems unlikely – it’s understood the Government favours a commercial solution being prepared by BIBA, and Graeme Trudgill, BIBA’s executive director, told the FT: “We understand there are no proposals for government intervention on SME flood insurance”.
The ABI defended the industry’s response, claiming 82% of winter flood claims had been settled despite the need to assess claims properly, and said a Flood Re scheme for businesses was ‘not appropriate’.
