Home fraud costing £13 in premiums

Fraudulent home insurance claims are costing honest policyholders around £13 a year in higher premiums, research indicated today.

Insurer Axa said it had seen a rising trend in recent years for people to submit exaggerated claims under their home insurance, with one in three insurance brokers also saying they thought the problem was worse than it was a year ago.

Research carried out for the group found that 8 per cent of people admitted they had inflated a home insurance claim, exaggerating the value of their belongings by an average of 2,898.

A further 36 per cent of consumers said they would consider inflating a claim if they made one.

YouGov questioned 56 insurance brokers in March and OnePoll questioned 2,000 consumers in February.