Securing the Nation:The Case for Safer

Homes

Jane MilneHead of Property and Creditor

January 2007

          

What is the issue?

• 655,000 households experienced at least one burglary within last 12 months

= 1.6m people

• Insurers pay out £1m per day to burglary victims and £1.5m per day to arson victims

What is the issue?

• Lack of security is the main reason a property is targeted

• There are significant social equity issues

• Burglary levels are falling

– do we really need to do anything?

• The total social and economic cost of a burglary has increased to £3,267 on average

Where does the burden lie?• Inner city areas and the very poor are 60-70% more likely to be burgled

• Young households are 163% more likely to be burgled

•Single parent households are 148% more likely to be burgled

• But each of these groups rank as the least likely to have insurance

•Less than half have insurance

•They also have least control over their housing security standards

The opportunities for action• Sustainable and Secure Buildings

Act 2004 gives legal basis for Building Regulations on security

• Regulation should be risk-based and proportionate

• Full benefits of regulatory action should be taken into account

• Voluntary approaches such as the code for Sustainable Homes do not deliver

Methodology

• Focused on: •target hardening (SBD as a

benchmark)•new builds and major

refurbishments

• Tested model using:•burglary rates of 5% with

sensitivity analysis of 3% and 7%•burglary reduction rates of 50%

with sensitivity analysis of 25% and 75%

• Average cost of a burglary £3,300

Key Findings

• Average cost of measures = £630 per home

• Benefits:•£1,173 per home over 20 years•Year One 400,000 households

benefit = £215m net savings•Over 20 years the regulations

would save the economy over £3.2bn

What next?

• Building Regulations based on SBD to protect people living in social and private housing

• Strengthening of the Code for Sustainable Homes • No opt out

on security• Greater weighting

of security