UK home insurance premiums rose 31% in analysis behind SNP Budget call

What happened

UK home insurance premiums increased by a combined average of 31% between January 2022 and August 2024, according to House of Commons Library research commissioned by the SNP. The findings prompted the party to demand action from Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the autumn 2024 Budget. The Daily Record reported the analysis on 21 October 2024, so its figures describe a historical period rather than prices in October 2026.

The same analysis put the increase in France at 15.4% and the rise in Germany at 0.25% over the corresponding period. Those figures show a larger increase in the UK than in either of the two countries cited. They compare changes in premiums, however, rather than showing which country had the highest insurance bills in pounds or euros.

The reported UK figure is a cumulative increase across the whole measurement period, not an annual rate. It also does not mean that every household’s premium rose by 31%, or that an individual renewal quote should match that percentage. The report supplied no average premium in pounds, so it does not establish the additional cash cost for a typical policyholder.

The SNP commissioned the work, while the House of Commons Library carried out the analysis, according to the report. That distinction separates the research from the political conclusions the party drew from it. The published account did not include the underlying tables or explain the coverage and weighting behind the combined average, limiting what readers can establish about the comparison.

The background

Home insurance can cover buildings, contents or both, and these products protect different things. Buildings cover generally concerns the structure, while contents cover concerns belongings; the reported analysis did not break its headline increase into those categories. A buyer comparing policies therefore needs to check what is insured, not assume that every product represented by a market-wide figure offers the same protection.

The cost of repairing insured damage is relevant context for home insurance, but the reported research did not quantify any contribution from storms, flooding or subsidence. It would therefore be unsupported to assign the 31% increase to one of those causes. Property Pulse UK’s separate coverage of Scottish gales and home insurance claims considers weather-related risks, rather than explaining this particular historical price comparison.

The home insurance findings followed separate SNP research on motor premiums, which the Daily Record had reported the previous week. That work put the UK increase at 82% between May 2021 and July 2024, against 19% in neighbouring EU countries. The motor and home figures cover different periods and different insurance products, so they are not interchangeable measures of the same market.

The Daily Record also reported that insurance bodies had met UK Government ministers and consumer groups on the Wednesday before publication. That meeting accompanied a government commitment to address rising motor insurance costs. The account did not describe an equivalent commitment on home insurance, an important distinction for homeowners assessing whether the political debate had produced action affecting their own policies.

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What people are saying

SNP economy spokesperson Dave Doogan argued that insurance bills were contributing substantially to pressure on household finances. He urged Reeves to use the forthcoming Budget to tackle the issue and called for a “crack down on insurance costs”. His comments were a demand for government intervention, not an announcement of an agreed policy or a reduction in premiums.

Doogan also said household insurance costs had increased faster than inflation and warned that the higher prices could persist. The reported account did not provide an inflation benchmark alongside the home insurance series. His warning about prices becoming entrenched was therefore a political assessment of the risk, rather than a forecast supported by a published projection in the report.

The SNP spokesperson linked the international differences to Brexit and criticised the effect of Westminster policy on Scotland. The figures cited in the report establish different rates of premium growth in the UK, France and Germany, but they do not isolate the reasons. A comparison of three national price movements does not, by itself, demonstrate how much any one political or economic factor contributed.

The Daily Record said it had approached the UK Government for comment, but its published account contained no government response to the home insurance findings. It also carried no insurer response addressing the methodology or the international comparison. The reported commitment on motor insurance should not be treated as a government answer to the separate claims about buildings and contents cover.

What happens next

At the time of publication, the next political milestone was the autumn 2024 Budget, which the SNP wanted Reeves to use to address insurance bills. The report did not specify a proposed tax change, pricing rule or other mechanism for lowering home premiums. It therefore gave policyholders no confirmed start date, eligibility conditions or expected saving on which to base a household budget.

For someone assessing a renewal, the relevant comparison is between their existing cover and the replacement policies actually available to them. A historical market increase cannot establish whether a particular current quote is competitive. The distinction between broad price measures and individual bills is explored further in Property Pulse UK’s coverage of home insurance prices and renewal quotes.

A practical comparison should examine the insured risks, cover limits and exclusions as well as the premium. The excess—the amount the policyholder pays towards a claim—also matters, because choosing a different excess changes the financial protection being compared. The reported 31% figure does not indicate whether any particular cheaper policy provides equivalent cover to a more expensive one.

Property use is another reason to look beyond the headline price: cover intended for an owner-occupied home should not simply be assumed suitable when that home is let. Owners considering that change can consult the insurance checks before letting a former home. Neither that decision nor a current purchase should rest on the 2024 analysis alone, which supplies no present-day quotations or policy terms.

Why this matters

The reported increase helps explain why insurance was part of the household cost debate before the autumn 2024 Budget. For homeowners and buyers, however, it is evidence about a past period, not a guide to what cover should cost today. The practical distinction is between a market-wide statistic and a policy that meets a household’s needs. Current quotations, suitable cover and affordable excesses matter more to that decision than an unsupported assumption that every premium moved by the same amount.