According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the cost of the riots is placed at “tens of millions of pounds”. Nick Starling, the director of the ABI, says “We have every sympathy for residents and business owners who have suffered damage to their properties. Insurers will be on hand to answer any queries that they have.”

Affected customers are therefore urged to call their insurers as soon as possible to check what they are entitled to. The ABI have said that most policies should cover fire, looting or damage caused, as well as accommodation costs for those who had to leave their homes.

For those who do not have home insurance, there is still help at hand. According to the 1886 Riot (Damages) Act, the police must compensate residents who have had property damaged or stolen during a period of riots.

Uninsured home owners are advised to make a claim to their local police force. The time limit for these claims has always been 14 days, but the ABI has been consulting with home secretary Theresa May to get this deadline extended to 42 days to allow residents more time.

It is highly likely that insurance companies will pay claims but will themselves recover costs from the police too. Grahame Trudgill, the head of corporate affairs for the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) has said the police may be forced to pay out to insurance companies for “effectively failing to keep law and order”.

Confused.com’s research found that:

• 40% of home insurance customers have not switched at all in the last three years or more
• 5% of customers haven’t switched for 10 years or more
• 13% of customers have never switched providers

So why are people so reluctant to switch providers? With numerous comparison websites now available it only takes a few minutes to look for a better deal, and almost £100 a year is not to be sniffed at. Confused.com looked into this as well and found that:

• 39% of respondents said they had a great insurance deal and didn’t need to switch
• 20% can’t be bothered to switch
• 19% didn’t think the savings on offer made switching worth the effort

Perhaps the most surprising thing to come out of the research was that 4% of respondents didn’t even know that they could switch providers. With so much publicity at the moment about switching providers to get a better deal in this tough economic climate, it is amazing that some people are still not aware that they can change their providers.

If you do switch, remember that you should not make your decision on price alone because it is also essential that the cover is appropriate for your needs. Mark Gabriel, the head of home insurance at Confused.com, said that “levels of cover can vary between providers so check everything you want is covered and then select a policy that meets your needs”. He also added that it is good practice to do this every year to ensure you have the appropriate level of cover at a good price.

To put this into perspective, that is more than twice the amount paid out in insurance claims the last time the country suffered a bout of freezing weather (£650 million).

From properties to vehicles to businesses, nothing was spared from the sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall that hit the UK throughout December. Low-speed vehicle collisions and burst pipes were some of the biggest problems, with burst pipes alone responsible for 100,000 claims at a cost of £680 million.

In total, there were 478,000 claims made during the spell of freezing weather. 190,000 of these were for home insurance, totalling £900 million, and the rest were claims on car insurance policies, making up a total of £530 million.

The director of general insurance and health at the ABI, Nick Starling, said that “when bad weather strikes there is no substitute for insurance”.

He added that even though it had proved to be a very costly time for insurers, they would do all that they could to keep prices competitive. As of this moment it does not appear that premiums have gone up as a result of the bill, and hopefully it will stay this way.

It is of course a legal requirement to have car insurance but if you are in any doubt about the need for home insurance then this could be a good reminder of the huge bills that you can face if you don’t take out the appropriate cover.

According to Direct Line, just over a quarter of us have under-insured items ranging from designer clothes to the latest technological gadgets and the top of the range luxurious leather sofa to the total sum of £20,000. This statistic may sound alarming but it actually sounds pretty positive when placed alongside another figure released by the insurance company. One fifth of households in the UK have no sort of home contents cover at all, despite the fact that possessions within these households hold an average overall value of £14,000.

The reasons behind the astounding level of undervaluing that seems to be going on in many British households are fairly simple. Never mind the fact that many Brits don’t know the precise value of many of their possessions, or that some homeowners don’t take into account inherited items, the more pressing fact remains that many individuals considering taking out home insurance policies consider their expensive items in isolation. However, incidents such as widespread flooding or house fires can wreak havoc across an entire property, wiping out all valuable possessions within minutes.

By taking some time and care when taking out a new policy, and of course ensuring that you actually do take out an insurance policy, you should be able to avoid the financial pitfalls that can arise from under-valuations.

With hazards such as overloading plug sockets and using worn or damaged cables having the potential to result in loss of life, the importance of being well-informed of the risks is all too apparent. It is thought that over 40 people died and 4,000 individuals suffered injuries ranging from minor to severe following electrical fires in 2007.

However, even minor electrical fires can prove to be utterly devastating, with the financial implications often extreme. Around 60% of accidental fires reported in 2007 were blamed on electrical equipment, with extensive home insurance claims from those fortunate enough to have policies not unusual following such an incident.

The idea behind Electrical Fire Safety Week is garnering widespread praise, with Allianz Engineering just one company to offer support to the initiative. Allianz Engineering used the week to encourage companies of all sizes to have their electrical appliances checked regularly, since it is of course not just homeowners at risk of suffering the ill effects of electrical fires.

According to the study, beauty products have caused £1.4 billion in home insurance claims over the past 12 months, with that figure set to increase by around £115 million during the festive season. The majority of the damage that results in homeowners having to make claims can be blamed upon make-up stains, with 17% of claims filed under that category (11% of claims arise from stains from fake tan or hair dye), whilst hair straighteners are to blame for around 5% of claims. It would also seem that stiletto heels don’t only put our ankles at threat at this time of year; damaged floors as a result of these shoes have resulted in a whopping cost of £330 million.

Halifax have also been keen to point out the effect that alcohol has had on the situation, with the rise in the trend of “sofa-lising” since the start of the recession resulting in an increased risk of accidents in the home. It is thought that around a quarter of Brits now hold pre-night out parties in their homes in order to reduce the cost of a night on the tiles but it would seem that this is far from a cost-effective way of entertaining if it results in such hefty claims on home insurance policies.

A combination of poor home security and a towering stock of expensive goods piled high in a predictable location (such as under the illuminated Christmas tree, often placed in a position that can easily be seen from the road outside) is leaving homeowners extremely vulnerable to burglary.

Confused.com have revealed that just one in four British homeowners bother to increase the level of their home security despite festive thefts costing homeowners or insurers around £2,623 on average.

Although this may sound like scaremongering, it is wise to take a few simple precautions in order to guard against Christmas misery. Try not to leave your gifts on display under the Christmas tree and keep the curtains closed when you can to ensure thieves can’t spy on your goods. Ensure your valuables are properly covered on your insurance policy and are valued as accurately as possible. This is particularly important when you consider that the top five items taken by thieves last year were laptops, Nintendo Wii consoles, digital cameras, Playstation 3s, and Sony PSPs.

Furthermore, try to make life difficult for thieves by leaving keys in hiding places that aren’t at all obvious and consider painting your drainpipes with anti-climb paint. Installing an obvious burglar alarm in a prominent position may also act as a deterrent.

A number of insurers announced that they had seen significant rises in claims following the recent spell of freezing weather that hit the UK in November, which surprised everyone by arriving so early.

Amongst those insurers revealing a rise in claims was Axa, which said it had seen double the normal calls for home insurance claims, and Lloyds TSB, which revealed that it had received seven times as many claims for burst pipes following the cold weather.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said it cannot yet tell how much the cold has cost the insurance industry, but if the last cold spell is anything to go by then the figure is expected to be high. Back in January, the freezing weather was responsible for £650 million in insurance claims, most of which was due to burst pipes.

Leaking and burst pipes can cause serious problems for properties, including electrical faults and structural issues. Lloyds TSB has provided some helpful tips to help prevent burst pipes from occurring, including:

• Provide insulation to all the water pipes and the sides of the water tank
• Turn central heating onto a low setting if you are going away over the winter
• Use the frost protection thermostat on your boiler if you have one

If a pipe does burst, Lloyds TSB advised homeowners to:

• Turn off the mains water supply
• Turn off the electricity in the area affected by the leak, or turn off all the electricity if there is substantial damage
• Drain the taps of any remaining water in the system
• Contact your insurer immediately

With the next cold snap set to hit the UK shortly and lasting into the New Year, things could get a lot worse for insurance companies before they get better.

Halifax Home Insurance has been the driving force behind the campaign to encourage homeowners to get their homes ready for winter and help them recover from the unexpectedly early winter spell that we’ve all grown so sick and tired of over the past couple of weeks. With the insurance company receiving over 18,500 claims last year relating to frozen and burst pipes alone, and 8,000 other unlucky homeowners having to make a claim for damage inflicted by stormy weather, it’s clear to see that we Brits can be guilty of taking a somewhat lazy approach to winter preparation when it comes to the home.

Carrying out a home MOT really isn’t difficult. First of all, check for existing damage by doing a circuit of your home to see if there are any roof tiles that have either fallen away from the structure or are cracked. You should also have a look at the state of your gutters and drains to check that they aren’t overflowing with debris caused by storms or general winter wear and tear.

After carrying out these checks and making the necessary repairs, prepare yourself for the long wintry months lying ahead of us, with the Met Office still issuing severe weather warnings; keeping torches and warm clothing in an accessible place, and stocking up on blankets, tinned food, and bottled water, are all wise moves.

Although this increase has brought a number of significant benefits to consumers, these benefits could yet turn out to be short-term boosts if the number of companies proves to be unsustainable in the long-term, with the current financial situation continuing to prove difficult for all companies to operate successfully in.

Defaqto’s Insight Analyst for General Insurance, Mike Powell, suggested this when he revealed that the research company believes that the rise in insurers means “there are long-term implications for [companies], who may need to consider how they restrict premiums while simultaneously lowering the cost of acquiring and retaining new customers”.

All of this hints at the suggestion that consumers may yet see the quality of their home insurance drop significantly as companies look to triumph in a bitter race to lower prices, something that could potentially hurt those who need to make a claim in the future as companies continue to prioritise price over the range of coverage they offer.

As the insurance industry continues to move away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach that it had previously relied upon, having been forced to adapt to an age in which price comparison websites allow consumers instant access to quotes from a range of companies, the difficulty of ensuring that companies are using correct business models means that any company that makes even the slightest wrong decision could end up finding that it was the last decision it makes as a company, with competition for customers increasing all the time.