England pilots flood certificates to support home resilience and insurance access

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England flood certificate pilot

Highlights

Flood Performance Certificates pilot launches this year in England's flood-prone areas, aggregating risk and resilience data through 2027 and beyond.
FPCs aim to drive resilience upgrades and could enable app-based self-assessment, allowing mitigation measures to be credited by insurers and enhance insurance access.
From April 2027, contents cover premiums for Council Tax Bands A and B will drop to £25, supporting affordability amid ongoing government and Flood Re reforms.

Pilot scheme starts in flood-risk areas

As reported by GOV.UK, the government and Flood Re are unveiling Flood Performance Certificates, or FPCs, as a pilot programme that starts this year in parts of England exposed to flooding, with more pilots planned through 2027 and beyond.

The certificates are intended to offer standardised information on both flood risk and property resilience, in a format comparable to Energy Performance Certificates. The planned model includes a Flood Performance Rating that breaks risk into factors such as exposure, property characteristics and resistance, drawing on existing information from the Check Your Flood Risk service, including river and surface water threats.

Under the approach being tested, resilience upgrades such as self-closing air bricks, flood barriers, water-resilient flooring and flood-resilient kitchens can be reflected in a property's assessment. Where protection is insufficient, the certificate is expected to identify where further action is needed.

Insurance and housing market implications

Flood Re says it wants app-based flood self-assessments to become routine over time, allowing households to understand risks, take mitigating steps and eventually have those actions recognised by insurers. The broader aim is to increase uptake of resilience measures and strengthen climate resilience in communities facing a growing flood threat.

The initiative also carries implications for lenders and the wider housing market because it could provide more comparable information on flood exposure and resilience. The article says this may support insurance affordability and availability where improvements to a home are sufficient to alter an insurer's assessment of flood risk.

The announcement comes during the Environment Agency's Flood Action Week, which runs from 12 to 18 October. It also follows earlier plans from the government and Flood Re to keep flood insurance fair, affordable and sustainable, including a reduction in contents cover premiums for Council Tax Bands A and B to £25 from April 2027.

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