‘We can see into the other room’: insurers face surge in subsidence claims — SkimNews
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- Hastings Direct recorded its highest-ever monthly subsidence claims in August, up 140% on the same month a year earlier, with 2026 claims running 30% higher year-on-year.
- The Association of British Insurers reports the average UK subsidence claim hit a record £20,000 between April and June, with insurers paying out £72m — up from £60m in the same period last year.
- Axa has labelled 2026 a "surge year" for subsidence, while Aviva is reviewing its reserves and pricing models in response to the trend.
- The British Geological Survey warns that up to 11% of UK homes — more than 4.2 million — could be at risk of subsidence by 2070 under its worst-case climate scenario, with London, Essex, Kent and the Oxford-to-Wash corridor most exposed.
- Homeowner Henry Biggs, 49, told the Guardian that diagonal cracks in his 1970-built Stroud property worsened through this year's heatwaves, with floor sections "falling away in the middle" and monitoring devices only fitted about a year after his Admiral claim was accepted.
- Several policyholders are holding off on filing subsidence claims, fearing that lodging one could raise future premiums or block them from obtaining cover elsewhere — even where structural engineers have advised action.
- BIBA deputy head of insurance Shaune Worrall warned of a "double surge," as many subsidence claims filed last year remain unresolved alongside this year's fresh wave.
- Geospatial scientist Timothy Farewell of MapleSky said widespread soil drying across the UK in 2018, 2022, 2025 and 2026 has caused an uptick in cracking houses, bursting water mains and failing roads.
Why it matters: With the average subsidence claim now at a record £20,000 and insurers like Aviva reviewing reserves and pricing models, homeowners in vulnerable clay-soil regions face excess costs often exceeding £1,000, while some policyholders are declining to file for fear of being priced out of future cover.
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