Introduction

As part of the Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy, we are conducting a pilot to support the insurance market to develop and deliver one or more home contents insurance propositions for social tenants.

We plan to facilitate, fund and support the insurance and housing sectors to deliver a cross sector pilot that tests how contents insurance can be provided to social housing tenants through reduced friction pathways at the point of tenancy.

As part of this, we will be launching the pilot fund this summer – firstly for applications from commercial partners, followed by a later stage for social landlords. To support the design and development of this fund, we have a research programme in progress to ensure the pilot is grounded in real customer needs and cross industry practicalities. You can read more about that here.

We now want to hear from partners in the insurance industry

We are seeking input in the form of evidence submissions from the insurance industry and broader ecosystem to inform the final detailed design of our pilot fund. We’d particularly like input on the roles organisations can play in the pilot, and how the pilot can be best put together in order to achieve its objectives.

This expression of interest is an opportunity to provide specific, detailed written information focusing not only on what you would do, but how you would use any funding to deliver it. We’re not looking for formal applications at this stage and there will be an opportunity to do that when the pilot fund opens in the summer.

We encourage free and honest responses, including views on exploring an opt‑out approach for tenants where appropriate.

Why are we conducting this pilot?

At Fair4All Finance, we exist to help people build financial resilience. Too many households still live without financial safety nets, including a lack of insurance protection.

Comparing our own segmentation data to the FCA’s Financial Lives survey shows that 24% of people in financially vulnerable circumstances do not hold a single insurance or protection product, compared to a national average of 16%.

Our most recent data also shows that only 28% of people in financially vulnerable circumstances have the same levels of protection as they did 12 months ago. Many have cancelled policies or reduced cover, finding it hard to justify rising costs.

Our analysis indicates that only 30% of people in financially vulnerable circumstances have contents insurance, compared with 46% of all UK adults. For social tenants specifically, there are few contents insurance products tailored to their needs, and uptake of those that exist is low – stakeholder discussions suggest it could be significantly lower than 30%.

At the same time, this cohort may face greater exposure to adverse events that contents insurance can help protect against. For example, research from Aon shows that low income communities have 30 times higher arson rates and are 8 times more likely to live in a tidal floodplain than higher income communities.

What the pilot is trying to achieve  

The pilot is designed to test how home contents insurance can be provided to social housing tenants at the point of tenancy, to increase the take up of home contents insurance among social renters.

Working across the insurance and housing sectors, Fair4All Finance will act as a facilitator. We will support the market to build and deliver through funding, connections and research. Products and propositions will be owned by the market.

We will allocate a multimillion pound budget over multiple years through our pilot fund for the benefit of the pilot’s objectives:

• Appropriate and accessible contents insurance for social tenants 
• Delivery methods that offer straightforward and reduced-friction customer journeys for both landlords and tenants  
• Support delivery with education for landlords and tenants, and safeguards to ensure understanding and suitability
• Increase uptake of contents insurance within the social tenant cohort

We see opportunities to increase take up and reduce the protection gap through:  

• Supporting insurers to refine existing products and develop new offerings that meet the needs and concerns of social tenants
• Collaborating across the wider insurance and housing ecosystems to support tenants, insurers and social landlords in increasing take up. This could include education, marketing and communications, connection services, technological solutions, data‑ and underwriting support, and more
• Working with brokers, social landlords and other delivery partners to test delivery and distribution methods that reduce friction, including exploring an opt‑out mechanism

We’re open to, and welcome, other ideas.

How you can input

You can share your interest and input by emailing us at hello@fair4allfinance.org.uk by 30 April 2026, using the subject line ‘Home contents pilot: expression of interest’

Please begin your response with:  

• Your name 
• Organisation and the experience of your organisation in addressing financial inclusion (if relevant) 
• Contact details (email address) 
• Please indicate if you are happy to be contacted afterwards about your responses 

To reiterate, this expression of interest is an opportunity to provide detailed written information focusing not only on what you would do, but how you would use any funding to deliver it.

We’re not looking for formal applications at this stage and there will be an opportunity to do that when the pilot fund opens in the summer.

If you have any questions or would like a conversation before you submit your response, please feel free to reach out to us at hello@fair4allfinance.org.uk.

Commercial providers can participate in the pilot either as leads, or as individual organisations

• As ‘leads’: to run a pilot workstream, managing all aspects through existing relationships and applying for the funding needs of all relevant partners on their behalf
• As ‘individual organisations’: with the potential to join a working group with other funded participants to deliver a workstream

For both options, it is ideally (but not compulsorily) helpful to have capacity to work with additional social landlord partners who may apply through Stage 2 funding.

Pilot participants must

• Be headquartered in, or have significant operations in, England
• Demonstrate understanding of, and willingness to align with, the objectives of this pilot

Our funding is public money. We will in due course seek proposals that demonstrate value for money in delivering impact for financially vulnerable customers so our support goes as far as possible for those who need it most.

We encourage for-profit entities to consider how this work can become commercially viable in the medium to long term.

Questions

Please note that your submission will not impact or affect any future application you or your organisation makes for funding, when applications do open in the summer. This is an important information gathering exercise in order to help us finalise the design of our fund.

There are two sections, with each section having a set of questions attached. Please answer all sections relevant to you or your organisation as a provider.

• What type of role would you be interested in applying for?
• How would you go about meeting the objectives through your activity?

This input will then be taken onboard when we look to tailor the delivery of our pilot fund. Depending on the input we receive, our intention is to have this fund open for applications by the summer.  

1. What type of role would you be interested in applying for? [lead/individual organisation] 
   1. If Lead:  
      1. Which organisations would you include in your application (specific entities or types of partner)?
      2. Would you be able to bring social landlord partners on board through existing relationships?
      3. Would you have the capacity to work with additional social landlord partners that may apply separately?  
   2. If ‘individual organisation’: 
      1. Are there specific organisations or types of offering you would like to, or need to, be paired with in order to deliver your plans and meet the pilot objectives? 
      2. Are there organisations or types or partner you would not want to, or could not be commercially able to join a working group with, for example due to exclusivity agreements?
      3. Would you be able to bring social landlord partners on board through existing relationships?  
      4. Would you have the capacity to work with additional social landlord partners that may apply separately?  
2. How would you go about meeting the objectives through your activity? 
   1. What would you use the pilot to test?  
   2. How would you use the funding, and what would be the key differences between your current offering and your offering with this funding?  
   3. What ballpark level of funding is required for what you’re suggesting?
   4. What other support would you need from us, including any key information or enablers you would need from us to apply and deliver your plans?

A note on opt-out

Delivering a contents insurance product through an opt out mechanism from tenants’ rental agreements was one of the key recommendations coming out of our cross sector workshop in 2025, held with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and including participants from social housing, insurance and civil society sectors along with the FCA.

More recently, testing this idea has received support from the Treasury Select Committee, during their 4 March 2026 oral evidence session on the Financial Inclusion Strategy. We are working with the FCA to explore an opt out mechanism and how it could be trialled in a way that safeguards customers and upholds current rules.

Please include in your plans whether and how this would affect your testing and your ability to meet the objectives, along with any safeguards you consider necessary.

All information received will be treated in confidence and attributed only to your type of organisation (eg insurer, broker).