England to pilot certificates showing how well a home stands up to flooding

On 13 October the government and Flood Re announced the start of pilots for a new document — the Flood Performance Certificate, or FPC. It is meant to give owners, buyers, insurers and lenders a consistent assessment of flood risk and resilience for an individual home.

What will the certificate show?

The pilots will test a Flood Performance Rating format. The assessment is expected to be split into several parts: exposure to flooding, the characteristics of the building, and its ability to resist water and recover faster after a flood.

The certificate should record work already done and measures still missing. Among the examples the government gives are self-closing airbricks, temporary or permanent barriers, water-resistant flooring and kitchens designed to be restored after water gets in.

When will the certificates appear?

The first pilots begin in 2026 in flood-risk areas. Further testing is planned for 2027 and beyond. Flood Re intends to check which information homeowners actually understand and can act on.

This is not yet a compulsory nationwide certificate. The government has not announced a date when an FPC would be required to sell or let a home, has not set a price for the assessment, and has not opened applications to the public. The comparison with the Energy Performance Certificate describes the intended role of the document, not a legal requirement already in force.

Will the rating affect insurance or a mortgage?

The aim is to give insurers and lenders comparable information about risk and the protection measures installed. Flood Re expects that over time real improvements to a property will be taken into account when risk and the availability of cover are assessed.

But an FPC on its own does not yet guarantee a lower premium, mortgage approval or a higher property value. How the market uses the rating still has to be tested in the pilots.

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Separately, from April 2027 Flood Re will more than halve the fixed premium the scheme charges insurers for contents cover on homes in Council Tax Bands A and B: from £58 to £25. Insurers are expected to pass the saving on, but £25 is not the final price of a whole policy for the resident.

How does an FPC differ from the existing risk map?

The Environment Agency's free service already shows the long term risk for an area by postcode: from rivers and the sea, surface water, reservoirs and, where data exists, groundwater. But GOV.UK states plainly that this service does not tell you the likelihood of an individual building flooding.

The FPC is meant to fill exactly that gap, combining the external hazard with the construction of a specific home and the protection fitted to it. To check past flooding you can separately ask the Environment Agency for an area's history; a detailed report sometimes carries a fee.

What can you do right now?

Check the long term risk for your address and sign up free for Environment Agency warnings by phone, text or email. Warnings cover rivers, the sea and groundwater, but not sudden surface water flooding.

Prepare a flood plan, keep documents and medicines somewhere safe, and ask your insurer which protection measures it recognises. Our article on home flooding and the Flood Re scheme explains who pays for the damage. We also cover how buildings insurance differs from contents insurance.