The chief executive of Britain’s largest insurer has warned that newly built homes in flood‑prone locations could become uninsurable in the future.
Amanda Blanc, Aviva’s CEO, said the threat of flooding was “absolutely increasing”. If current building trends continue, 115,000 homes will be constructed in flood zones over the next ten years.
“That doesn’t make sense to me; we need to think carefully about where those homes are being built,” she told the BBC.
The Environment Agency reports that about 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are currently at risk of flooding. That figure could rise to roughly 8 million—about one in four properties—by mid‑century as the climate crisis intensifies, the agency warned in August.
Speaking on the BBC’s Big Boss Interview podcast, Blanc said England was “for sure” constructing properties that could become uninsurable in the future.
“It’s well known where these flood‑prone areas are. We need to think very carefully about where new homes are being built.”
She added that much could be done to mitigate damage, noting, “You can make various improvements to a property to increase or decrease its vulnerability to flooding.”
Aviva’s research shows that nearly a third of new homes built in 2024 will be exposed to some flooding by 2050, and one in seven will face medium‑to‑high flood risk.
Following the exceptionally wet and stormy winter of 2023‑24, the Met Office estimated that such severe winters have escalated from once‑in‑80‑year events to once‑in‑20‑year events.
Blanc urged the government to avoid “kite flying” on policy ahead of Chancellor John Healey’s first budget on 28 October.
Aviva, a leading private pension provider, noted that speculation about pension changes caused a sharp rise in withdrawals ahead of recent budgets over the past two years.
“In the past year we saw a 30‑fold increase in normal pension withdrawals, which customers may later regret because once a tax‑free lump sum is taken out it cannot be replaced,” she said.
She concluded, “We would advise people to be very thoughtful about any decisions they are considering.”