Showing posts with label figures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label figures. Show all posts
Shed and garden office insurance latest figures
Shed and garden office insurance latest figures
Now that were close to the finish line for the Shed of the Year 2015 competition, Gocompare.com is urging owners to make sure they have adequate insurance cover for their shedlike atmospheres.
Sheds and other garden outbuildings are usually covered as fixtures and fittings under buildings insurance. This cover pays out for any damage to the structure arising from events such as fire, vandalism or burglary.
Moveable items such as garden furniture, cycles, garden and DIY tools are considered as household contents. Generally speaking, insurers impose restrictions on the amount you can claim for these items damaged or stolen from your garden outbuildings.
An analysis of over 350 home insurance policies by Gocompare.com revealed that:
* 3% of policies don’t provide any cover for contents left in outbuildings
* Of those providing cover for contents in outbuildings, cover ranges widely from £500 to unlimited
* Bicycles are treated separately – with limits on both the pay-out for an individual bike and the total amount payable. 11% of policies exclude cover for pushbikes
* Policies typically have a separate limit for theft from outbuildings (ranging from none to unlimited cover) with most policies providing between £1,000 and £3,000 worth of cover. However, insurers generally only cover theft claims if the items were stolen from a securely locked shed or outbuilding where there are signs of forced entry
Ben Wilson, home insurance spokesperson at Gocompare.com, said: “As the Shed of the Year competition illustrates, for many people a garden shed is much more than a place to house the lawnmower, gardening tools, or old decorating equipment.
“But whether you use your shed just for outdoor storage or as a garden pub, a studio or a home gym, you should stop to consider the value and security of your shed’s contents. When you stop and add up the cost of replacing items housed in your shed, you might be surprised by their collective value. Thieves target sheds because despite some containing a range of valuable contents, security is often overlooked, making them an easier target than a house.
“Home insurance policies differ considerably in terms of cover, excesses and exclusions for sheds and other outbuildings. To make sure that you have the protection you need, it’s important that you compare product features, not just prices.
“Insurers will also expect you to take care of your possessions and may only settle a theft claim if the shed was securely locked, with good quality locks and where there is evidence of forced entry. So if you have particularly valuable items, such as an expensive bicycle, you need to check that it is covered by your insurance and whether there are any other requirements such as locking it to an immoveable object inside the locked outbuilding.”
To help you estimate the value of your contents, including in your shed/outbuildings, you can use Gocompare.com’s new home contents calculator. ----------------------------------------------------
Shed and garden office insurance latest figures
Rural homeworking latest figures
Rural homeworking latest figures
According to the latest report from Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the 24.9 million people in work in England in 2013, 3.5 million were homeworkers (those who usually spend at least half of their work time using their home, either within their grounds or in different places or using it as a base).
The highest rate of homeworkers is in rural hamlets and dispersed areas, at 33 per cent, compared with 12 per cent in urban areas. Overall rural areas had a higher rate of homeworking compared with urban areas, says the report - in 2013, there were 994,000 homeworkers in rural areas and 2,490,000 in urban ones.
Between 2006 and 2013, the rate of homeworking increased faster in all rural areas compared with urban ones. The highest increase was in rural hamlets and dispersed areas at 4.7 per cent.
According to the Office for National Statistics, homeworkers are more likely to be working in higher skilled roles and earn on average a higher hourly wage.
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Rural homeworking latest figures