Homeowners across England will gain a clearer picture of their property’s flood risk under plans unveiled by the Government and Flood Re this week.
New Flood Performance Certificates (FPCs) will be piloted to provide clear, standardised information on flood risk and resilience, reflecting the steps taken to protect them and where further action is needed.
The goal is for FPCs to be a trusted source of information, similar to how Energy Performance Certificates are for energy. They will pilot approaches such as a ‘Flood Performance Rating’, which breaks a property’s flood risk down into categories such as exposure, characteristics and resistance. This will draw on flood risk information already available through the ‘Check Your Flood Risk’ service, covering risks such as rivers and surface water.
By helping people understand their vulnerabilities and how they can be addressed, FPCs are intended to drive greater uptake of practical resilience measures and support more climate-resilient communities. Households can invest in items like self-closing air bricks, flood-resilient kitchens and flood barriers.
Being introduced by Flood Re, work on pilots to test the certificates will start this year in areas at risk of flooding, with a growing number of pilots also taking place throughout 2027 and beyond.
Flood Re’s ambition is for app-based flood self-assessments to become routine, helping people understand their individual risk, take steps to mitigate it, and in time have these actions recognised by their insurers.
Floods Minister Emma Hardy said:
"Flooding is devastating for families and communities, and we need all households to know about their own flood risk and what can be done to reduce it.
"With our new Flood Performance Certificates, we are starting to give people the opportunity to access clear, trusted information in one place about the flood risk their home faces, so they can take steps to become even more resilient.
"This Flood Action Week, the government is going further to protect communities and businesses while also providing the public the tools to check their flood risk, prepare a flood plan, and sign up for flood warnings to protect their home and family."
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Working closely with homeowners, insurers and lenders, the pilots will test how resilience information can be assessed, communicated and recognised in a way that is useful for all users.
Where homeowners take action to make their properties more resilient, such as installing flood barriers or water-resilient flooring, this will be reflected in the assessment. If a property’s resilience can be improved, the certificate will make this clear and help identify where action is needed.
FPCs will aid insurers and lenders by providing access to more consistent, comparable information and support a positive impact on the affordability and availability of insurance where action taken to improve flood resilience is sufficient to improve an insurers assessment of the flood risk. Earlier this year, the government and Flood Re unveiled plans to ensure flood insurance remains fair, affordable and sustainable, while accelerating action to improve flood resilience across the nation.
This includes more than halving premiums for contents cover policies in Council Tax Bands A and B, to £25, from April 2027. This change is intended to support lower-income households and renters, with insurers expected to pass these savings on to customers.
This week also marks the Environment Agency’s Flood Action Week, running from 12 to 18 October. It encourages people to prepare for flooding by taking proactive steps such as knowing their flood risk, preparing a flood plan, and getting flood warnings.
The Environment Agency maintains 260 mobile pumps, including 17 ultra-high-volume pumps, along with 25 kilometres of temporary barriers ready to be deployed wherever they are needed.
They also operate a 24/7 response to flooding emergencies, with 600 people on call at any one time and plans in place to escalate their response when needed.
Note:
- The mock-up of the FPC is for illustrative purposes only.
- It is intended to give an indication of how the certificate may look, but the final design, content and format is still being developed.
- A final Flood Performance Certificate template will be published at a later date.