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Making a home insurance claim
Who are the best home insurers for claims?
The acid test of any home insurance provider is how it handles your claim.
In June and July 2025, we surveyed 2,804 insurance policyholders who had made a home insurance claim in the past two years about their experiences. Their ratings are shown in the table below.
As well as giving their overall verdict on how their most recent claim was handled (the Claims Score), claimants also gave their view on how speedily the insurer had dealt with the claim and how well they'd been kept up to speed during the process.
Search for your insurer, or find a better one using our table:
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 77% | |||||||
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 76% | |||||||
| 72% | ||||||||
| 71% | ||||||||
| 70% | ||||||||
Bank of Scotland | 70% | |||||||
| 70% |
Table notes: last updated in September 2025. Next update in September 2026. Customer Survey: Based on an online survey of 2,804 adults – members of the Which? Connect Panel and members of the public – who had made a claim in the past two years. Survey conducted in June-July 2025. The 'Claims Score' reflects how satisfied respondents were with how their most recent claim was handled and their likelihood of recommending the insurer for claims. A dash (-) means not enough responses to include a star rating.
Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms and conditions of an insurer before committing to any financial products.
What should I do if I need to make a home insurance claim?
Watch our video, or scroll down for step-by-step instructions.
1. Prepare yourself in advance
It's impossible to predict when you may need to claim (if at all). However, there are steps you can take to prepare yourself.
If any of your items are stolen or damaged, you'll often be asked for proof, such as a receipt. Whenever you make a big purchase, it's wise to keep the receipt in a safe place or take a photograph of the item.
It is also important to keep your property in a good state of repair. Home insurers offer buildings insurance on the condition that your home is maintained regularly.
Claims are often turned down if this is found not to be the case, especially with storm damage to a roof. Make sure your roof is inspected every few years and keep proof that this has been done.
2. Call your insurer promptly
Many insurers will give you up to 180 days to make a claim on your home insurance, but it's always best to get in touch as soon as possible.
Insurers like to handle large claims as soon as possible, especially if there is a flood or fire. Delaying a claim could also worsen the damage.
3. Don't throw away damaged items
While it might be tempting to do a complete clean-up following a fire or a flood, don't throw away damaged items. Your home insurance company will probably want to assess what you've lost, so keep your contents unless you're told you can bin them.
You should also avoid redecorating, at least immediately, in the event of a flood. A property can take a long time to fully dry out, and lifting a wet carpet could see it shrink.
4. Take photographs
When you submit your claim, your home insurance provider will ask you for a full rundown of what has happened, as well as evidence.
Taking photos or making a short video of the damage done to your property and its contents can be useful in case there's any dispute.
5. Get help from a loss assessor
Taking on a home insurance provider in the event of a large claim can be daunting. Usually an insurer will send a loss adjuster round to look at your property, and they will decide how your claim will progress.
However, you may wish to have someone working with you personally to also have a look at the claim.
If you bought your home insurance policy via a broker, you might be able to turn to them for help. Or you can appoint a loss assessor – a claims specialist who looks after the interest of the customer. To pay for their services, you'll either be charged an upfront fee or a percentage of the claim.
- Find out more: Best home insurance 2025
Think carefully about cash settlements
When we reviewed 24 insurance providers on claims service, over half received critical feedback from claimants when it came to the value of claims settlements.
Insurers settle claims one of three ways. They'll either organise repairs or source replacements, pay you cash to do this yourself, or a mixture of the two. Among our survey respondents, insurers used cash settlements to settle claims about as often as they didn't.
But if you're offered a cash lump sum – no matter how generous it might look on paper – it's vital that you do your homework and know how far it will actually go towards putting you back where you were prior to the claim. This isn't always clear, and can require a specialist evaluation – particularly in a complex buildings claim.
Once you accept a payout, the insurer has no further responsibility for your claim.
- Find out more: search for a Which? Trusted Trader near you
Where do home insurance claims go wrong?
There's a multitude of reasons you might need to use your home insurance - and therefore a host of ways in which claims can go wrong.
Issues Which? has repeatedly identified across various kinds of insurance have included customers not receiving clear information about the claims process, being asked to repeatedly supply documents and evidence, not receiving updates from insurers when claims stall, and not being given proper explanations about why a claim wasn't accepted.
In our most recent survey of home insurance claimants, claims most likely to be rejected by insurers were those involving damage from high winds, heavy rain or hail.
Home insurance claims: frequently asked questions
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