BIBA and Mi Specialty are marking 10 years of their commercial property with flood cover scheme, which has helped 1,500 businesses access specialist flood insurance since 2016.
The scheme has written around £16 million in premium and currently insures £600 million of assets, with roughly 200 BIBA members actively using it. Mi Specialty has paid out more than £9 million across over 170 claims, an average of more than £53,000 per claim.
BIBA chief executive Graeme Trudgill said the scheme was set up because commercial property owners have historically struggled to find adequate flood cover through the conventional market. He said it combines "specialist underwriting with sophisticated flood mapping technology."
Mi Specialty managing director James Wheddon said flood risk continues to evolve, driven by changing weather patterns and increased surface water flooding. He argued that the next decade will require greater innovation and closer collaboration across insurers, brokers and government.
The scheme's average claim is high, but it is not directly comparable with wider UK flood claims data. Recent industry analysis puts the average surface water flood claim at under £5,000, but that figure reflects a market dominated by residential claims. Commercial property losses are typically larger whatever the source of the water, and the scheme's claims total covers its commercial property cover as a whole.
What the figures do show is a scheme that pays out meaningful sums on the risks it accepts. With around 200 members using it, it remains a specialist route rather than a mainstream one.
For brokers with commercial clients who have been declined, restricted or heavily loaded for flood elsewhere, the scheme is one of the established specialist options available to BIBA members. Wheddon's reference to rising surface water flooding is also a reminder that flood exposure is no longer confined to properties near rivers or the coast. Brokers reviewing commercial property renewals should check flood cover terms, rather than assume that clients away from obvious watercourses are unaffected.
