Paymentshield has introduced its new and improved home insurance offering, which it claims provides an increased level of protection for homeowners and equips advisers with a stronger product to offer their clients.

This update sees a fundamental overhaul of its core limits and follows market research with both customers and advisers, conducted alongside Paymentshield’s insurance partners.

Paymentshield says the new product reflects current market conditions, including the increased cost of building materials and post-Covid changes to the way people live, such as the growing popularity of outbuildings.

Upgrades to the policy include increasing the limit on cover for buildings to a blanket amount of £1 million to better protect customers needing to make a buildings insurance claim, as inflation drives up the cost of parts, materials and labour. Cover for theft from garages and other outbuildings (including garden offices and bars) is also being increased from £3,000 to £5,000.

Additional cover has been added for electric bikes, mobility scooters and hot tubs – which comes in response to the changing needs of customers. Up to £10,000 of contents insurance cover is now also available for any permanent household members who move out, such as into student accommodation or a nursing home.

In addition to the policy changes, Paymentshield has redesigned its customer policy letters to make them more inclusive for all customers and helping to ensure that Consumer Duty requirements are met throughout the customer journey.

Paymentshield hopes that the enhanced policy will make the GI conversation easier for advisers, by arming them with a policy that provides a greater level of protection for their clients.

Emma Green (pictured), director of distribution at Paymentshield, said: “We know that our home insurance product already comfortably met the needs of the majority of households, but we wanted to make it an even stronger product so advisers can confidently quote each and every client knowing that it offers enough coverage.

“Due to market conditions, we know advisers are having to do more with less. So, whether they use our optimised home insurance quote journey to generate an accurate quote in under a minute, refer their business to our expert in-house team, who can advise the customer on their behalf, or refer them to our online purchase option, we believe our proposition confidently delivers for advisers helping their clients to find quality home insurance.”