According to experts, there has been a staggering 19 per cent jump in the average paid for building and contents insurance. 

As parts of the UK were battered by storms, the average policy has been hiked by an eye-watering £59 annually in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Between October 1 and December 31 2023, the average price paid for this cover was £364, up from £305 in the same quarter a year earlier.

That's according to figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Last month, The Mirror reported five people died during Storm Isha, including an 84-year-old man who was killed when the car he was in collided with a tree in Fife, Scotland and a man fell down a manhole in Bradford, West Yorkshire. 

Storm Jocelyn then battered Britain with 80mph winds and heavy rain just one day after Storm Isha, causing widespread damage across the country.

Louise Clark, the ABI's policy adviser, general insurance, said: "The succession of storms that have battered the UK in recent months underlines the importance of home insurance, with insurers supporting thousands of customers whose homes and possessions have been damaged or destroyed.

"insurers are totally committed to offering competitively priced home insurance."

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"Despite rising cost pressures, insurers are totally committed to doing everything they can to continue to offer competitively priced home insurance."

She added: "Flooding caused by extreme weather is devastating when it strikes people's homes. That's why it is vital more is done to increase investment in flood risk management that better protects communities which are at risk, alongside a zero-tolerance approach to building properties in areas of high flood risk."

Earlier this week, the British Insurance Brokers' Association (Biba) called for investment in flood defences to be boosted in the spring Budget on March 6.

A Government spokesman said on Monday: "We're fully committed to protecting communities from flooding, which is why we've doubled our investment to a record £5.2 billion between 2021 and 2027 - helping to directly protect over 100,000 properties from recent storms, as well as keeping hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and thousands of businesses safe."

The ABI said insurers are battling cost pressures, with thousands of claims having been generated by recent bad weather and storms like Isha and Jocelyn.