‘Repair and Renew Grant’ for Businesses and Home Owners Affected by Floods
Government makes available grant of £5,000 to pay for repairs which will improve a property’s ability to withstand future flooding.
Following the Governments’ announcement to make £5,000 available to homeowners and businesses as part of its package to assist those affected by the recent floods, the Co-operative Insurance Service has revealed that they are launching a new service to assist home owners in accessing the government grant and to provide free advice on how to make flood resilient repairs to weather damaged properties.
Grants up to £5,000 are available from 1st April for homeowners in England to implement safeguards against future flooding. The repair and renewal grants provide funds beyond that of insurance claim settlements which cover reinstatement works following flood damage.
There are several measures which can be taken to reduce the potential impact of flooding. These can be considered in terms of minimising the chance of flood water entering the property through use of flood boards and air brick covers for example, taking steps to protect belongings should flooding be inevitable such as wall mounting the television and raising electrical appliances on plinths, or making changes which will assist the speed of any clean-up operation and reinstatement work such as having tiled floors with rugs rather than fitted carpets and moving sockets to 1.5 meters above floor level. For further information on flood preventative measures see http://www.ajcconsultants.ltd.uk/flooding-plan-ahead/
Recent research undertaken by One Poll of 2,000 people which was commissioned by Co-operative Insurance found that over 40% of people were considering making changes to make their home more flood resilient.
Sources: Insurance Times
Co-operative Group
Further advice: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/
http://www.ajcconsultants.ltd.uk/flooding-plan-ahead/
