6.3 million homes and businesses in England are at risk of flooding

6.3 million homes and businesses in England are at risk of flooding. That's the Environment Agency's figure, and this month the government set up a new Flood and Drought Resilience Taskforce to deal with it.

Look at who's in the room: the Met Office, fire services, farmers, water companies - and insurers.

Insurers don't do politics. They do prices. And Flood Re, the scheme that keeps flood cover affordable for high-risk homes, has three details most people don't know:
-It doesn't cover homes built after 2009.
-It doesn't cover businesses at all.
-It closes in 2039. After that, premiums are meant to reflect each property's actual risk.

That's 13 years away. Well inside a normal mortgage.

Our drains, defences, planning rules and insurance were designed around the weather we used to get. Last winter England had 42% more rain than average. This winter starts on ground baked hard by the hottest summer on record, and that ground can't soak rain up fast enough.
You don't have to settle every argument about causes to see the problem. The systems we rely on were built for a climate we no longer have, and the bill lands on households and small businesses.

Two practical things:
-Check your postcode on Flood Action Online.
-If you're buying a home, ask what it will cost to insure in 2040, not just today.

Resilience isn't left or right. It's just sensible.