75 UK Water Damage Insurance Claim Statistics for 2026

Every figure on this page has been checked against the page of the organisation that produced it. Water damage is the single largest cause of home insurance claims in the UK, and the industry calls it escape of water. The numbers below cover what insurers pay out, what the average claim is worth, how often claims are rejected, and what happens when policyholders push back. They come from the Association of British Insurers, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the English Housing Survey and insurers' own claims data, and run to Q2 2026.

Last updated: 13 September 2026 · All figures verified: 12 September 2026

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How much do UK insurers pay out for water damage claims?

The ABI's Property Insurance Tracker is the broadest UK source on this, analysing nearly 28 million policies a year and based on prices and claims paid rather than quoted. It does not break escape of water out as its own line - its weather-related category covers burst and frozen pipes, escape of water, storms and flooding together.

Property payouts reached £1.5 billion in the final quarter of 2025 alone. Q4 carries the storm season, which makes it the heaviest quarter most years. (ABI, February 2026)

Insurers paid £1.2 billion in weather-related property claims across 2025. This spans domestic, commercial and business interruption lines. (ABI, February 2026)

Weather damage to people's homes and possessions accounted for £758 million of that total. The remainder fell on businesses and commercial property. (ABI, February 2026)

Weather-related property claims rose 14% year on year in 2025, an increase of £142 million. The trend has been upward every year the tracker has run. (ABI, February 2026)

Total property claims in 2024 reached £5.7 billion. That was the largest annual total on record at the time, and was surpassed the following year. (ABI, February 2025)

Total property claims in the fourth quarter of 2024 were £1.6 billion. Domestic and commercial policies combined. (ABI, February 2025)

Insurers paid a record £585 million for weather-related damage to homes and possessions in 2024. It beat the previous 2022 record for the same claim types by £77 million. (ABI, February 2025)

Property payouts hit a record £4.6 billion in the first nine months of 2025. At that point insurers were already on track to beat any previous full year. (ABI, November 2025)

Weather damage totalled £936 million over the first nine months of 2025, just over a fifth of all claims paid. Weather is a large minority of property claims, not the majority. (ABI, November 2025)

Weather damage to homes and possessions reached £596 million in the first nine months of 2025, up 21% on the previous year. The rise outpaced general claims inflation over the same period. (ABI, November 2025)

A record £886 million was paid for domestic property claims in Q1 2025, up 20% on Q1 2024. This figure includes fire, theft and subsidence alongside water. (ABI, Q1 2025 data)

If you are trying to work out whether your own settlement offer is reasonable, the aggregate numbers matter less than the line-by-line detail - see what affects your own settlement.

What is the average payout for a water damage claim?

No one publishes a single average water damage payout, which is why the figure gets misquoted so often. The ABI publishes an average across all home claims and a separate one for weather-related damage, and insurers publish averages from their own books. They are different measures and are not interchangeable.

The average home insurance claim rose 15% to £6,000 in 2025, an increase of almost £800. This is the all-perils average, not water specifically. (ABI, February 2026)

The average flood payout to a homeowner reached £30,000 in 2025, up 60%. Flooding produces the largest domestic property claims of any peril. (ABI, February 2026)

The average storm damage payout reached £2,450 in 2025, some £750 more than in 2024. Storm claims are far more numerous than flood claims, and each one is much smaller. (ABI, February 2026)

The average subsidence claim reached a record £20,000 in Q2 2026. Subsidence is not water damage, though leaking drains are a common trigger, and it benchmarks for what a large domestic claim looks like. (ABI, August 2026)

Domestic subsidence payouts hit £72 million in Q2 2026. The quarter followed the warmest spring on record in England and Wales. (ABI, August 2026)

The average payout per home insurance claim was £5,284 in Q2 2024, up 16% on the previous quarter. It is the earliest quarterly average in this set, and a useful baseline for how fast claims inflation has moved since. (ABI, Q2 2024 data)

Average claims payouts for buildings and contents insurance rose by 17% in 2025. This is the regulator's own measure, drawn from firms' mandatory value measures returns. (FCA, July 2026)

Aviva put the average escape of water claim at £8,595 across three years of its own claims data. This is one insurer's book rather than an industry figure, but it is the closest thing to a published escape-of-water average. (Aviva, July 2026)

If your offer sits well below these benchmarks and you cannot see why, that gap is worth challenging - see challenging a low offer.

How common are escape of water claims?

The figures in this section come from Go.Compare's analysis of its own 2024 quote data. Read the methodology note: it counts customers who declared a loss when getting a quote, whether or not a formal claim was ever made. It is the most cited breakdown of UK home insurance claim types, and others republish it without that caveat attached.

Escape of water accounted for 28.63% of home insurance claims declared in 2024, the largest single category. Almost one in three. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Accidental loss or damage at home was the second largest category at 26.33%. Spilled drinks and drilling through pipes sit in this bucket. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Storm damage accounted for 13.50% of declared claims. Less than half the escape of water share, despite dominating the news coverage. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Theft from the home, including outbuildings, accounted for 5.86%. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Flood accounted for 2.12% of declared claims. Flooding produces the biggest individual payouts but the smallest share of claim volume. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Fire accounted for 1.97%. Water damages more UK homes than fire by a wide margin. (Go.Compare, April 2025)

Insurers paid out almost £3.4 billion across home insurance claims in 2025. This is the domestic portion of the £6.1 billion property total. (ABI, February 2026)

Those payouts covered more than 560,000 home insurance claims. Against roughly 28 million policies, that is a claim on about one policy in fifty. (ABI, February 2026)

More on how these claims work in practice: escape of water claims explained.

What causes escape of water claims, and when do they happen?

Escape of water peaks in winter, but the summer share is large enough that insurers now warn about it.

A quarter of escape of water claims occur between July and September. Unoccupied homes during holidays and unnoticed slow leaks drive the summer share. (Aviva, July 2026)

Escape of water claims typically peak in January, when cold weather freezes and bursts pipes. This remains the single worst month. (Aviva, July 2026)

July recorded the second highest number of escape of water claims in 2025. It ranked behind only January across the whole year. (Aviva, July 2026)

Storm damage to homes reached £244 million in 2025, a 32% increase of £59 million on the previous year. Storms drive water ingress claims that are settled differently from internal leaks. (ABI, February 2026)

The cost of domestic flood claims rose 38% to £312 million in 2025. External flooding and internal escape of water are separate perils with different excesses. (ABI, February 2026)

Domestic subsidence payouts rose 10% to £307 million in 2025, the highest level on record. Prolonged dry weather, and leaking drains washing out ground beneath foundations, both contribute. (ABI, February 2026)

The 2023/2024 storm season brought 12 named storms, the most since 2015/2016. Named-storm seasons are the clearest predictor of a heavy claims quarter. (ABI, February 2025)

Claims for weather damage to homes topped £200 million in a single quarter for the first time in early 2025. The previous quarterly record, set in Q1 2022, was beaten by £67 million. (ABI, Q1 2025 data)

Frozen and burst pipes are the classic winter cause: see burst pipe claims.

How many home insurance claims are rejected?

This is where home insurance looks worst against every other retail insurance product, and the data comes from the regulator rather than the industry. The FCA requires firms to report these measures, and publishes them annually.

Home insurance claims acceptance rates run at 62-71%, against 99% for motor. The FCA states there are inconsistencies in how firms report home acceptance data and that the rates should be used with caution - so treat this as evidence of a problem with home claims handling, not as a precise rejection rate. (FCA, July 2026)

Travel insurance acceptance sits at 83-86%, well above home but below motor. Home is the outlier among major retail products. (FCA, July 2026)

Motor insurance claims are accepted at 99%. The same industry accepts almost every motor claim it receives. (FCA, July 2026)

Claims costs were 48% of home insurance premiums in 2025. Just under half of what policyholders pay comes back out as claims. (FCA, July 2026)

Home claims costs stood at 46% of premiums in 2024. The measure has been stable year on year. (FCA, July 2026)

The FCA contacted 35 firms over data anomalies before publishing the 2025 figures, and around half resubmitted. A useful indicator of how much care these numbers need when quoted. (FCA, July 2026)

If your claim has been turned down, the acceptance data suggests you are far from alone - see what to do if your claim is rejected.

How often do claimants complain, and how often do they win?

The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use, independent of insurers, and publishes its outcomes. These are the numbers that matter most if you are deciding whether pushing back is worth the effort.

The Financial Ombudsman received 6,399 new buildings insurance complaints in 2025/26. Buildings insurance ranks among the most complained-about insurance products year after year. (Financial Ombudsman Service, 2025/26)

Contents insurance generated 1,685 complaints, upheld at 30%. Contents disputes are fewer, and succeed less often than buildings ones. (Financial Ombudsman Service, 2025/26)

Home emergency insurance complaints were upheld at 40%, the highest rate of the household products. 1,631 complaints were brought. (Financial Ombudsman Service, 2025/26)

Across all financial products the Ombudsman upheld 30% of the complaints it resolved. This is the benchmark against which the buildings figure should be read. (Financial Ombudsman Service, 2025/26)

The Ombudsman received 214,600 new complaints across all products in 2025/26, almost 30% down on the year before. The fall was driven largely by fewer cases from professional representatives, not by fewer insurance disputes. (Financial Ombudsman Service, 2025/26)

Claim decline was the top reason for buildings complaints at 41%, ahead of claim delay at 23% and claim value at 8%. Nearly three-quarters of complaints are about being refused, stalled or underpaid. (Financial Ombudsman Service, August 2024)

Buildings insurance complaints rose 13% year on year in the quarter that set the record. The trend has been rising for a decade. (Financial Ombudsman Service, August 2024)

The general uphold rate for buildings insurance claim delay complaints was 57%. Delay complaints succeed more often than complaints overall. (Financial Ombudsman Service, August 2024)

Home insurance claims complaints run at 7-13% of claims registered, against 0-6% for most retail insurance products. This is the regulator's measure, and it corroborates the Ombudsman's caseload. (FCA, July 2026)

If your insurer has stalled or refused, the route to the Ombudsman is free: see escalating to the Ombudsman.

What does home insurance cost, and how have premiums moved?

The ABI's premium tracker is based on prices customers paid, not quoted prices, which run higher. Escape of water usually carries its own separate excess, often several times the standard policy excess.

The average combined buildings and contents premium was £383 between April and June 2026, 2% lower than a year earlier. Premiums have been easing while claims costs have risen. (ABI, August 2026)

The average combined premium was £379 in Q4 2025, £14 lower than the same period in 2024. (ABI, February 2026)

Buildings-only cover averaged £312 in Q4 2025, down from £323 a year earlier. (ABI, February 2026)

Contents-only cover averaged £122 in Q4 2025, £14 lower year on year. (ABI, February 2026)

The average combined premium was £384 in Q3 2025, a third consecutive quarterly fall. (ABI, November 2025)

The average combined premium was £393 in Q1 2025, 7% higher than Q1 2024. (ABI, Q1 2025 data)

The annual average combined premium rose 16% to £395 across 2024, an increase of £55. 2024 was the steepest recent year for home insurance pricing. (ABI, February 2025)

The average combined premium reached £403 in Q4 2024, 11% higher than the same period in 2023. (ABI, February 2025)

Home insurance premiums rose 19% year on year to Q1 2024. This was the sharpest annual rise in the tracker's recent history. (ABI, May 2024)

Adjusted for inflation, the average home policy cost £419 in Q1 2016 - more in real terms than today. Premiums feel high because claims costs have risen far faster than prices. (ABI, May 2024)

How many UK homes are exposed to water damage risk?

An unreported or unresolved leak often ends up as damp, and damp is one of the few water-related measures that government surveyors collect rather than the insurance industry.

Damp problems were present in 6% of all homes in England - 1.4 million households - in 2024-25. Surveyors assess this, rather than relying on what householders report. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

7.7 million households - 31% - reported an issue with condensation, damp or mould in their home. The gap between this and the surveyed 6% is the gap between what people notice and what meets the formal definition. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Damp was most prevalent among private renters, at 11%, against 4% of owner occupiers. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Category 1 damp and mould hazards - the most serious classification - were present in 142,000 households. These are hazards serious enough that a home fails the statutory minimum standard. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Of households reporting moisture damage after a storm, 523,000 were found by surveyors to have damp problems. Water that gets in during a storm is a common route to long-term damp. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

74,000 households with storm-related moisture damage had a Category 1 damp and mould hazard present. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Households with damp were far more likely to be dissatisfied with their home: 22%, against 6% where there was no damp. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Around 1 million dependent children lived in damp homes in 2024-25, 9% of all dependent children. (English Housing Survey, 2024-25)

Damp after a leak is a claimable consequence, not just a maintenance problem: see damp and mould after a leak.

Methodology

How these figures were selected. Every statistic on this page comes from the organisation that produced the number: the Association of British Insurers (industry claims and premium tracker, covering nearly 28 million policies a year), the Financial Conduct Authority (mandatory value measures returns from insurers), the Financial Ombudsman Service (published complaints outcomes), the English Housing Survey (government surveyor assessments), and two insurers publishing their own claims data. 87% of the figures here come from government, regulator or industry-dataset sources.

How they were verified. Each figure was checked on 12 September 2026 by loading the source page and confirming the number appears on it. All 13 source URLs returned HTTP 200. Short or ambiguous figures were then re-checked in context, because a two-character token will match somewhere on any long page - that second pass corrected two figures that had matched the wrong sentence.

What was excluded, and why. Statistics roundups, insurer blog posts and loss-assessor marketing pages were excluded, including the pages currently ranking for this term - several repeat an ABI figure with no link and no date, and one cites 2022 data without saying so. Two figures on insurer claims-to-premium ratios were dropped because they were the ABI repeating EY, and EY's source page now returns a 404: a number we cannot see on the publisher's own page does not appear here. Environment Agency flood-risk data and water company leakage figures were dropped for the same reason - a dead URL and a JavaScript-only page respectively.

Two caveats that travel with the figures. Go.Compare's claim-type percentages come from quote data, counting customers who declared a loss whether or not they formally claimed; other sites republish them as settled-claim figures, which they are not. And the FCA warns that firms report home insurance claims acceptance inconsistently, so the 62-71% range evidences a problem with home claims handling rather than a precise rejection rate.

Dates. Where a figure's collection period differs from its publication date, the period is stated. ABI migrated its newsroom during 2026 and some older pages now display dates that do not match the data period described in their own text, so every ABI figure here is dated by the period stated in the body of the release.

Key Takeaways restates the twelve most quotable figures from the sections below it; no figure is used twice within the body sections.

Review cadence. This page is re-verified quarterly, with every source URL and figure re-checked and the year updated in place on the same URL. Next review: 12 December 2026.

Cite this page

WaterDamageClaims (2026) *75 UK Water Damage Insurance Claim Statistics for 2026*. Available at: https://www.waterdamageclaims.co.uk/water-damage-claim-statistics (Accessed: [date]).

Every section and figure group has its own anchor, so you can link directly to the statistic you are quoting.

What this page is for

This is a reference page, kept current so that writers, advisers and claimants can quote UK water damage claim figures without having to trace them back themselves. If you are dealing with a claim of your own rather than researching the numbers - particularly one worth more than £10,000, or one that has been refused, delayed or underpaid - a free claim review will tell you where you stand, and whether an assessor is worth it.