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Modelled similarly to Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), the new Flood Performance Certificates aim to provide homeowners, buyers, lenders, and insurers with a standardised, clear assessment of a property’s flood risk and individual resilience measures.

The FPC framework will synthesise existing data from the national “Check Your Flood Risk” service to break a property’s overall vulnerability down into distinct operational categories:

• Risk categories:
  • Evaluates specific exposure levels to river, coastal, and surface water flooding.
• Property characteristics:
  • Assesses structural factors and the impact of varying flood depths.
• Resistance and resilience measures:
  • Formally documents existing property-level defences, such as self-closing air bricks, non-return valves, flood doors, raised electricals, and water-resilient kitchens, highlighting where further protective action is required.

Flood Re will lead the trial phase, starting with initial pilots in high-risk areas throughout 2026 before expanding the program in 2027 and beyond.

The long-term objective is to establish routine, app-based self-assessments that allow the insurance sector to recognise and reward property-level resilience improvements.

• Insurance affordability:
  • Providing insurers with reliable, standardised property data enables better risk assessments, helping maintain affordable and accessible insurance for homes in flood-prone locations.
• Support for low-income households:
  • The government also highlighted upcoming changes to the Flood Re scheme that will more than halve contents insurance premiums for Council Tax Bands A and B to £25 starting in April 2027.

The initiative has drawn widespread support from political leaders, insurers, and community groups:

Floods Minister Emma Hardy emphasised that with rising flood risks, households need trusted, consolidated information to understand their specific exposure and take practical steps toward resilience.

Perry Thomas, CEO of Flood Re, noted that Flood Performance Certificates are designed to convert awareness into tangible action, encouraging investments that protect homes and lower long-term recovery costs. From the insurance and banking sectors, Aviva UK & Ireland CEO Jason Storah and Nationwide Head of Property Risk Robert Stevens welcomed the standardised rating system as a crucial step for market transparency, helping lenders and insurers maintain sustainable coverage as climate pressures grow.

Additionally, Tracey Garrett, CEO of the National Flood Forum, confirmed that the pilots will ensure the certificates work practically for flood-affected residents while accurately reflecting homeowner investments in property defences.