LexisNexis Risk Solutions has launched new climate change flood datasets for the UK insurance market as the sector faces increasing pressure to strengthen long term flood risk assessment.

More than 600,000 additional properties could be classed as high risk in the UK by 2100, while a significant share of rising exposure is expected in defended areas where a single failure could affect thousands of homes.

Recent insurer data has highlighted pressures in the motor market. Sixty per cent of flood-damaged vehicles were written off and motor flood claims accounted for almost a fifth of all flood-related claims in October 2024.

The new datasets allow property and motor insurance providers to analyse future flood risk for individual addresses, vehicle locations or entire portfolios across multiple time intervals to 2100. They draw on the main Representative Concentration Pathways developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Caroline Elliott-Grey, senior product manager, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said: “Insurance providers are seeking ways to model future risk scenarios and reduce their annual average loss. What they need is a long-term view of flood risk to support portfolio management, climate stress testing, resilience planning, claims forecasting and product innovation. These new datasets from two of the leading providers of flood modelling provide property-level insights that go far beyond postcode-level analysis, delivered into their workflows to help insurers make smarter decisions in pricing, underwriting, and risk mitigation.

“With climate change expected to increase the frequency and severity of flood events, and single-day rainfall events likely to put unprecedented strain on flood defences, the need for advanced data solutions is urgent for insurance providers and their customers.”

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