Demand for the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility held steady in its second year, with 730 risks securing cover at a total sum insured of £19.6 billion between April 1, 2025 and April 1, 2026. For brokers placing business in the multi-occupancy residential market and reinsurers backing the structure, the year-on-year increase from 703 risks tells a consistent story - the need for the facility has not eased.
The facility exists because thousands of buildings across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland still carry combustible cladding or unresolved fire safety defects. Many remain difficult or impossible to insure through the standard market at terms leaseholders can absorb.
The facility was established in April 2024 by reinsurance broker McGill and Partners with support from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA). It channels reinsurance capacity, led by Swiss Re, behind five participating insurers: Allianz, Aviva, AXA, RSA, and Zurich. That structure allows individual insurers to write risks they could not otherwise hold, spreading the exposure across the panel.
The practical effect for brokers is improved placement certainty. Buildings that were previously uninsurable, or required layered structures, can now be placed within a single facility under pre-agreed terms. The limit expansion from £50 million to £75 million per risk, implemented in year two, has sharpened that advantage.
In year one, 89.5% of risks were fully covered within the £50 million limit. The remaining 10.5% needed additional insurance to fill the gap. Since the limit increase, 94% of risks have achieved complete coverage through the facility alone. That removes the need for supplementary placements and the cost and complexity that goes with them.
The Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility was designed as a time-limited intervention, rather than a permanent solution. When it launched, Swiss Re and participating insurers described the facility as expected to run for three to five years, timed against the expectation that remediation works would gradually reduce the pool of buildings that need it. The government's Remediation Acceleration Plan, published in December 2024 and expanded in July 2025, sets a target for all high-rise buildings over 18 metres to be remediated by the end of 2029, with buildings between 11 and 18 metres required to follow by 2031.
Progress has been slow. Government data published in mid-2025 showed that of 5,214 residential buildings above 11 metres identified as having unsafe cladding, only 1,780 had completed remediation works. More than half had not yet started.
Chris Bose, ABI director of general insurance policy, was direct in the second-year update: "No insurance initiative can fix the underlying problem. The facility is a temporary measure and remediation to a standard that protects both life and property remains the only long-term solution for leaseholders."
That context matters for brokers and reinsurers assessing how long the facility will remain necessary. If remediation continues at its current pace, the three-to-five-year runway may prove optimistic. Participating insurers and Swiss Re will need to weigh that timeline when making capacity and renewal decisions.
For reinsurance professionals, the facility is a case study in public-private risk-sharing under an active policy failure. The structure is built around a specific and quantifiable exposure, where the primary market cannot function normally because the underlying hazard has not been removed. Swiss Re's role as lead reinsurer is not simply capacity provision. It creates the conditions for insurer participation by making the aggregate exposure manageable at the portfolio level.
Reinsurers have long played a structural role in flood, terrorism, and other markets where the primary market has retreated or cannot price risk without a backstop. The Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility applies that logic to a domestic UK building safety crisis, without direct government capital. Whether the structure holds as remediation timelines extend is a question reinsurers will be asking at renewals.
"The facility is an important bridge to the ultimate objective of making buildings safer and more resilient," said Aidan Kerr, head of UK and Ireland public sector solutions at Swiss Re.
The immediate priorities are clear for brokers placing buildings awaiting remediation. Confirm eligibility, engage with the participating insurers, and verify whether the £75 million limit covers the risk in full. The ABI and BIBA both provide guidance on the placement process. The facility will not be needed forever. Until remediation catches up, it is the most workable solution available in this part of the market.
