Investing in home insurance 'key to protect against damage'

New research has shown that up to £590 million worth of damage is inflicted on British homes by tradesmen every year.

Sainsbury's Home Insurance has found that while an average of five million British adults have employed tradesmen to work in their homes annually for the last five years, just 16 per cent asked for proof of them having public liability cover before allowing them to carry out the job.

As it is estimated that around one in five workers are operating in the UK without such policies, up to £118 million of the total damage caused may not be covered by annual insurance packages. According to Sainsbury's, this has resulted in a five per cent rise in the last year in requests for personal loans for home improvement purposes.

Ben Tyte, Sainsbury's home insurance manager, said: "All homeowners have a duty of care to look after their properties and if no effort to check for public liability cover is made and damage is done, they could find their home insurance invalidated and risk having to pay for major repairs themselves."

By Emma North