Insurers accuse Miliband of raising false wants UK flood victims
A furious insurance industry branded Ed Miliband as irresponsible and accused him of raising false hopes while he suggested that insured victims in the floods should receive payments within weeks.
Insurers also challenged claims through the Labour leader’s office that Miliband had recently met senior executives while in the insurance industry, saying they had been seeking a session with him for most days.
An Association of British Industry source said Miliband was “sending out the worst possible message” to people who had to be prepared for the outcome within the recent floods. “Making claims over these situations can be quite a long and quite often difficult process,” the original source said.
The industry’s anger followed Miliband’s meetings with flood victims in Somerset as he said: “What these families keep asking is they aren’t required to loose time waiting for months at a stretch to acquire insurance pay-outs or wait at least a year to receive last their homes.”
He added it was needed to ensure payments were paid within weeks of us submitting claims.
But those speaking within the ABI said: “It is pointless to grant false hope. It can be bordering for the irresponsible.”
Senior executives have met ministers with the Cabinet Office, including Oliver Letwin, minister for policy, to ensure they have ability to process claims.
But insurers stressed there was no point trying to process claims for houses that had been still flooded, or prone to further flooding. This is a insisted emergency payments were being made with the fastest rate possible. Typically loss adjusters were arriving within three to one week after entry to properties became feasible.
Insurers said the sheer number of claims being examined had been a 10th of the level following the 2007 floods, nevertheless it acknowledged how the number would rise.
At the industry summit insurers resisted pressure to vary helplines to local networks in lieu of keep premium rate numbers. Which? demanded eliminate such lines, citing the surroundings Agency’s decision to change its flood helpline from an 0845 with an 0345 number. Insurers argued that affected households were being contacted, including by email.
Meanwhile, that is a is opposing any government proceed to extend its own flood insurance scheme as a consequence of come into force during summer of 2015. The industry-wide scheme, often called Flood Re, was made to keep premiums down during the 1-2% of homes at highest chance of flooding, together with the premium capped depending on council tax bands.
This scheme excludes leaseholders, small companies, properties built after 2009 about 2,500 wealthy properties from the H council tax band.
The insurers assured ministers there have been no evidence insurers raising premiums for flood risk properties earlier than Flood Re starting in 2015.
The industry has defended the exemptions for the reason that how to maintain sum total in the scheme down, but ministers said they might study the position.
Leasehold properties should really be excluded, the business says, because freeholders are legally liable for buying building insurance for their leaseholders (on commercial and not domestic terms, and commercial properties have no coverage by Flood Re).
Michael Dugher, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, derided the industry meeting being a PR stunt, pointing out that no cabinet minister had attended.
Speaking after an hour-long evening meeting with the emergency committee Cobra, Greg Barker, the electricity minister, said the army had been switched from protecting properties to helping with the clean-up.
He said: “Over several folk have been reconnected to energy networks inside of events of the storms.” Your next task ended up being to help homes still without power as a result of floods where these days it is too dangerous to reconnect.
Barker said the best minister was “still about it, with a micro level”, adding the fact that worst within the weather was now over.
Meanwhile, the hearth Brigades Union warned that firefighters appeared to be hampered in flood rescues by unsuitable equipment including a not enough staff and training.
The union said waterborne infections became widespread among firefighters drafted into tackle the floods wearing equipment ill-suited to water. Some firefighters were using ageing or deteriorating boats, the union said, while other crews are wading into swollen rivers without dry suits or specialist vehicles.
The FBU general secretary, Matt Wrack, said the floods response seemed to be hampered by budget restrictions because of government funding cuts. “A very troubling picture is emerging of understaffed operations, badly equipped firefighters and inadequate training severely hampering their work and creating the upper chances for firefighters along with the public,” he said.
