A new study has revealed that English and Welsh residents lost around £98.7 million in a single year due to uninsured burglaries. This means thousands might have faced the double whammy of suffering a break-in and replacing their lost items themselves because they did not have protection in place.¹
The research, by Go.Compare Home Insurance, estimated the number of uninsured burglaries in a year based on a combination of Home Office and FCA data. It then applied the average contents insurance claim to uncover how much will have been lost in claims as a result.
The comparison site estimates that a third of all residential burglaries are uninsured. In England and Wales, this is equivalent to 62,718 residents suffering a break-in and having no protection to support them.
Out of the 187,749 residential burglaries that took place in the year ending September 2023, around 125,031 had a policy in place to help them cover their losses.
According to the figures, residents in England and Wales suffered a ratio of one burglary for every 132 homes over 12 months. This follows the news that Cleveland in North East England is the country’s biggest burglary hotspot, where there is one burglary per every 61 homes.²
London, Yorkshire, and the Humber were also named as the worst regions for burglaries, with a ratio of 1:90 and 1:92, respectively. Dorset and Somerset were highlighted as having the lowest burglary ratio in the country, where the rate was just one burglary for every 395 homes.²
As a result, Go.Compare is urging residents to make sure they have the necessary cover in place to avoid losing thousands in a worst-case scenario.
Nathan Blackler, a home insurance expert at Go.Compare said, “It’s truly shocking to see that thousands of people might have suffered a burglary without a policy in place, possibly losing millions as a result. This means they would have had no financial support to help them through an extremely challenging time.
“Unfortunately, living somewhere with high crime rates can have a negative impact on the price of your home insurance. But getting some form of cover in place is still important, as failing to buy a policy could end up costing you thousands in the long run. You should also prioritise your home security to make sure your property is as protected as it can be.
“Although you might get a higher price than in other areas, there are still things you can do to reduce your premiums. Adding improved security features, joining a Neighbourhood Watch scheme, and paying annually can all lower your costs. Regularly comparing policies will also make sure you’re constantly getting the best price for your cover.”
More information on uninsured burglaries, as well as England and Wales’ biggest burglary hotspots, can be found at Go.Compare.
References:
¹ To estimate the number of uninsured burglaries in England and Wales, Go.Compare Home Insurance first identified the number of residential properties in the UK using 2021 Census data (the latest available) from ONS, NRS and NIRSA data. They used this to calculate the percentage of the UK’s residential properties based in England and Wales (88.25%).
They then applied this percentage to the number of home insurance policies which included contents cover in the UK in 2022 according to the FCA (the latest figures available). This allowed them to estimate how many of the UK’s home insurance policies are in England and Wales.
This was then applied to the number of home insurance policies with contents cover in England and Wales to the number of residential properties in England and Wales. It allowed them to calculate the percentage of homes which have contents cover in England and Wales (66.59%). This was then applied to the number of residential burglaries in England and Wales to identify how many burglaries were insured.
They then subtracted this from the total number of residential burglaries in England and Wales to find out how many were uninsured. Go.Compare Home Insurance then multiplied this by the average contents insurance claim according to the FCA to estimate the amount lost due to uninsured burglaries in England and Wales.
² To identify the top burglary hotspots in England and Wales, Go.Compare Home Insurance used Home Office figures on the number of residential burglaries in each police force area in the year ending 2023. It then identified how many households are in each police force area using 2021 Census data (the latest available) on the number of households with at least one usual resident in England and Wales, split by region, county, unitary authority and district.
By dividing the number of burglaries by the number of households, Go.Compare Home Insurance were able to calculate the ratio of burglaries per thousand households in each region and police force area. It then simplified the ratios to discover the number of homes per burglary.