Buildings insurance recorded the lowest claims acceptance rate of any UK general insurance product line in 2025, falling to 62%, according to Insurance DataLab's analysis of the latest Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Value Measures data. Insurance DataLab said 13% of buildings claims resulted in a complaint over the same period.
The figures, drawn from the FCA's fourth full year of value measures reporting, show claims acceptance rates of 62%-71% for home insurance compared with 83%-86% for travel and 99% for motor. The regulator noted this pattern has persisted across multiple publications and said it believes there are inconsistencies in how firms report claims acceptance data for home insurance, meaning the figures should be treated with some caution.
Insurance DataLab's own release states buildings insurance acceptance dropped from 63% in 2024 to 62% in 2025, while combined buildings and contents cover held at 71% and standalone contents fell from 74% to 71%. Complaint levels rose for contents insurance, from 6% to 7%, while combined buildings and contents claims produced a 12% complaint rate.
The disparity between individual insurers is even starker than the market averages suggest. Giving evidence to the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee in June, DataLab co-founder Matt Scott told peers buildings insurance acceptance rates range from 45% to 85% depending on the provider, with contents ranging from 60% to 90% and combined home/travel policies spanning 55% to 100%. The equivalent spread for motor, he said, is roughly 99% across the board. Consumer group Which? reported separately that the latest FCA data suggests insurers decline close to three in 10 home insurance claims.
That 40-point gap between the best and worst performers on buildings claims (45% to 85%) gives brokers something concrete to work with when placing home insurance. Insurers sitting toward the bottom of that range are worth a closer look at their claims handling before business goes their way, given how much scrutiny that variation has already drawn from regulators.
Motor remained the largest product line, with more than 34.1 million policies in force in 2025, up 4.1% year-on-year, even as retail premiums written fell 6.6%. Complaint levels for motor actually improved, falling from 7% to 6%, though the aggregate 99% acceptance figure masks real variation beneath it: Insurance DataLab noted some individual providers recorded acceptance rates as low as 65-70% even within a market that performs strongly overall. That's worth remembering when a client assumes "motor is fine" applies uniformly across every carrier rather than as a market-average statement.
Travel insurance was mixed: standalone single-trip acceptance improved from 80% to 83%, annual European cover held steady at 86%, but annual worldwide cover slipped from 85% to 84%, with complaints rising across all three travel categories, single-trip, annual European and annual worldwide alike.
Pet insurance continued to record some of the highest claims frequencies in the market. Covered-for-life policies recorded a claims frequency of 41%, behind only healthcare cash plans, while maximum-benefit and time-limited pet insurance both recorded a frequency of 26%.
Acceptance rates declined across two of the three pet insurance categories: covered-for-life fell from 95% to 93%, and maximum-benefit fell from 93% to 91%. Time-limited cover held steady at 88%. Complaint rates remained comparatively low across all three categories, at 1% for covered-for-life and 2% each for maximum-benefit and time-limited cover.
For brokers, that combination, high claims frequency paired with declining acceptance in two of three categories, is worth flagging in client conversations even though pet insurance's absolute performance still sits well ahead of home insurance's. A declining trend in a high-frequency product is worth catching early, before it compounds into the kind of gap now drawing sustained regulatory attention in home insurance.
Insurance DataLab co-founder Matt Scott said: "The 2025 figures underline why no single metric provides a complete picture of customer value. Claims frequency needs to be considered alongside acceptance rates, complaints and the number of customers affected. For insurers and brokers, detailed benchmarking is essential to understand whether products are keeping pace with the market and delivering credible customer outcomes."
The sector is already under the spotlight, with the House of Lords committee's inquiry running alongside a Which? super-complaint from last year. That makes now a sensible time for brokers to weigh insurer-level claims performance, not just broad market averages, ahead of renewals, across home, motor and pet insurance alike.
The FCA has said its post-implementation review of the value measures rules is ongoing, with findings expected later in 2026 as part of a broader review of the Value Measures framework, including the consistency and usefulness of the published data. Separately, average comprehensive motor premiums fell to around £735 in September 2025, down 16% year-on-year, while claims payouts across the motor market still reached £11.7 billion in 2024 on theft, repair cost and inflationary pressures. Home insurance premiums fell 9.7% year-on-year to July 2025 but remained more than 23% above mid-2023 levels, reflecting continued inflationary pressure on rebuild and repair costs.
