Why social housing providers need to update their cover

Michaela Tweedley, a director at insurance-focussed building and projects consultancy Brawdia, said several factors had resulted in social housing providers using outdated or inaccurate data to insure their properties.

She said: “They are using out-of-date reinstatement values from up to a decade ago, with inflation added at the wrong rate, market valuations [are] used and there are others with no idea of where the figure came from.

“It is not just underinsurance we are worried about. In many cases, where providers are using market valuation, for example, they are often over insured as market valuations are higher than their declared value.”

Allison Whittington, head of housing and health at Zurich Municipal, said she has seen similar issues with data and observed some social housing providers didn’t have the resource to keep up with insurers wanting more details such as construction-type, add-ons to the original structure, et cetera.

It is not just underinsurance we are worried about. In many cases, where providers are using market valuation, for example, they are often over insured as market valuations are higher than their declared value.

She said insurers wanted a greater understanding of the risk of the properties and in the future, with this extra information, hopefully there would be improved capacity for social housing associations seeking cover.

The pair, along with Adam Pursey, senior vice president of Lockton, talk about the unique tools and support available to the social housing sector to provide accurate data plus what steps should be taken to ensure coverage is appropriate.

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