UK households get £4,916 added to bank account due to recent weather

This was over an eye-watering 36 per cent higher than in 2022, when the total was £421 million, the ABI - Association of British Insurers - said today.

A record £573 MILLION was paid out to UK households due to poor weather, insurance figures show. This was over an eye-watering 36 per cent higher than in 2022, when the total was £421 million, the ABI - Association of British Insurers - said today.

It comes after Storms Babet, Ciaran and Debi pummelled the country. Homeowners' storm damage claims, including those for high winds, totalled £133 million, with flooding adding £286 million. A further £153 million of weather claims came from burst pipes.

The average weather-related payout for home insurance last year was approaching £5,000, at £4,916. This was a jump compared with 2022, when the figure was £3,077. Louise Clark, policy adviser at the ABI said: "Extreme weather events may not feel so rare as they used to as we grapple with a changing climate.

READ MORE Prince Harry 'furious' at heartbreaking leak and 'only two things' can calm him

"Insurers continue to be there for affected homeowners, with payouts hitting record levels after a particularly difficult autumn and winter with seemingly countless storms, from Agnes onwards leading to significant flooding. While insurance will continue to protect homeowners and businesses, we can't afford to lose momentum on our flood defence programme."

Businesses received £443 million in weather claims in 2023 and the average weather-related payout for businesses last year was £18,542, jumping from £12,612 in 2022. The ABI said that property insurers had typically paid out around £13 million per day last year to help homeowners and businesses cope with events including flooding and theft.

The industry paid out £4.86 billion to homeowners and businesses in 2023, the ABI said. More than half of this figure - £2.55 billion - was for home insurance claims. The ABI said this total was up from £2.33 billion in 2022 and was driven by weather-related damage.

While the total number of claims remained fairly level, the average claim paid to businesses and homeowners rose to £6,235, an 11% increase compared with 2022.