Spike in home insurance claims over Boxing Day

Sainsbury’s Home Insurance is warning of a huge spike in home insurance claims from Boxing Day. During December last year, the average value of home insurance claims received by Sainsbury’s was £658.28, but on 26th December, this jumped to a staggering £2,209.31. Overall, 12% of the value of total claims received by Sainsbury’s Home Insurance during the entire month of December was attributed to incidents that took place on Boxing Day.

Steve Johnson, Head of Home Insurance, Sainsbury’s said: “Over the Christmas period, you can be at a higher risk of being burgled if your home is empty or, if you have your home full of friends and family, the chances of something breaking or being damaged can also increase. It's interesting that Boxing Day appears to be the worst day, maybe it's because people are more inclined to let their hair down after the stress and strains of Christmas day.

“It's a good idea; before Christmas arrives to check your home insurance policy to make sure that you have adequate cover. We automatically increase our cover by 10% during the festive period.”

Sainsbury’s Home Insurance offers the following advice for avoiding calamities in the home this Christmas:

Taking care in the home:

Don’t overload plug sockets, particularly around the Christmas tree

Check your Christmas tree lights conform to British safety standards

Never place candles near your Christmas tree or furnishings

Most fires start in the kitchen - never leave a cooker unattended

Move breakables and glass objects out of reach of children and pets

If you have a party, put a guard around your fire and move valuable/delicate pieces of furniture into another room

Winter Weather:

Find your main stopcock and make sure you can turn it off and on. If you have a water meter, the ‘off’ switch is on the meter, which is probably outside the house

If you are away for a few days, leave the heating on a low setting as it’s advisable to maintain an air temperature of at least 10oC (50 oF)

Make sure you have the telephone number for your home insurance company because many like
Sainsbury’s Bank offer a 24-hour emergency helpline which can arrange for emergency/temporary repairs