BIBA CEO Steve White, commenting on the Autumn Budget, said: “We welcome the fact that Rishi Sunak’s Budget is leaving the rate of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) untouched which is a key BIBA manifesto aim. This is some comfort to insurance customers already facing premium increases for a variety of external reasons. However, tax remains a significant proportion of the cost of being responsible and we hope future spending reviews will recognise the road safety benefits of greater use of telematics-based policies by removing premium tax on these to increase their uptake. Similarly, Government’s own Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 highlighted that only 6% of businesses have a specific cyber insurance policy in place. Cyber risk is growing and removing or reducing IPT on cyber insurance policies would help improve uptake and broaden resilience.
“Given the current risk of flooding in the UK which has prompted the creation of a joint initiative by BIBA, the ABI and Flood Re to form a Flood Insurance Directory, we were delighted to see that Government is committed to an additional £22m each year for the maintenance of flood defences. We were also pleased to see in the Budget Red Book that Government is commissioning a new National Infrastructure Commission study on the effective management of surface water flooding in England, which will also consider the role of a range of interventions including both traditional built infrastructure and nature-based solutions. We hope to work closely with Government to help introduce more general and property specific resilience measures.
“Finally in our post- Budget meeting with the team from Her Majesty’s Treasury, we had confirmation that the next Future Regulatory Framework Consultation can be expected imminently. We look forward to representing BIBA members’ views including our call for Government to introduce an international competitiveness objective on the FCA, the PRA and the CMA.”
Read the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 Red Book