Tenbury Wells and flood-prone communities across the UK are caught in an "uninsurability trap." After the floodwaters recede, a quiet crisis remains: families are being hit with skyrocketing premiums and five-figure excesses. In many cases, insurance companies are quietly walking away, refusing to provide cover for homes and local businesses.

Without insurance, businesses must close, mortgages are withdrawn and towns fade away. Meanwhile the injustice is clear: the insurance sector continues to insure the new coal, oil, and gas projects that fuel the very climate change driving people from their homes.

And there is an extra piece to the puzzle. Flood Re is a national scheme that allows insurers to recoup payout costs when their customers experience flooding. Even if they are still underwriting the very projects making flooding worse in the first place.

Our campaign

Insurers know the risks associated with burning fossil fuels better than any industry. They could also play a critical role in tackling the climate crisis. Put simply, without insurance fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead. Yet industry leaders like Lloyd’s of London continue to underwrite billions in coal, oil and gas projects each year.

The sector cannot continue to profit from the expansion of fossil fuels at citizens’ expense, while simultaneously withdrawing protection and shifting risk onto the communities suffering the consequences. We now need decisive action from financial regulators and Government to end the downwards spiral of pollution, extreme weather, economic instability and uninsurability.

That’s why we’re writing to the FCA, PRA and the Government with three key demands:

1. Stop the abandonment: End silent insurance exits from affected areas, hidden flood exclusions and unfair blanket postcode policy bans.

2. Protect our economy: Increase capital requirements for any insurer underwriting new oil, gas, or coal projects. If insurers choose to fuel climate change, they must hold more money in reserve to pay for the risk to our collective financial system they cause.

3. Make Polluters Pay: Adjust the public Flood Re scheme's levy rules, ensuring that insurance companies still underwriting new fossil fuels pay more into the national safety net.

We are mothers, families, residents and business owners fighting for the future of towns across the UK. This isn't just about insurance; it’s about the survival of our communities and protecting our beautiful planet.