If your cavity wall insulation has failed, contact your installer first. If they cannot or will not fix it, and a guarantee exists, the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency (CIGA) is your next call. Insurance can cover consequential damage like rotten timber or damaged plaster, but only when your policy wording supports it and you can prove what happened.
Insurers and CIGA both expect the same thing before they approve anything: dated evidence, not a verbal account of a damp patch.
- Contact the installer in writing and ask them to inspect and remediate
- Check for a CIGA-registered guarantee before assuming your insurer must pay
- Book an independent OSCAR CWI condition inspection survey before anyone touches the wall
Get this right early: CIGA’s own process runs on strict timescales, and a Financial Ombudsman decision shows insurers regularly decline claims simply because the claimant couldn’t evidence the insured event properly.
Key Takeaways
A failed cavity insulation claim succeeds or fails on documented evidence and the correct contact order: installer, then CIGA, then insurer, then Ombudsman if needed.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Contact order matters | Approach the installer first, then CIGA if a guarantee exists, then your insurer for consequential damage. |
| CIGA has fixed timescales | Expect prompt acknowledgement, timely inspection, and a comprehensive report within published timeframes. |
| Evidence beats description | Dated photos, correspondence logs, and an independent inspection carry far more weight than a verbal account. |
| Insurers scrutinise policy wording | Terms like “ceased to trade” or “failed to rectify” are applied strictly, as Ombudsman decisions confirm. |
| Independent inspection comes first | Book an OSCAR condition inspection before agreeing to any extraction work. |
Table of Contents
- How to build evidence for a failed cavity insulation insurance claim
- Who should you contact first, and in what order?
- How do you raise a claim with CIGA?
- How do you claim on your insurance for cavity wall damage?
- What if your claim is rejected or the installer has gone bust?
- Why an independent inspection strengthens your claim
- An editorial view on getting this right first time
- Sources
How to build evidence for a failed cavity insulation insurance claim
A claim lives or dies on paperwork. Insurers and CIGA assessors are not in your loft or your cavity, so what you hand them is the entire case.
Start with what you can see and photograph:
- Damp patches and staining — photograph both inside and outside walls, in daylight, with a ruler or coin in shot for scale
- Mould growth — note the room, the wall orientation (north-facing walls suffer more), and whether it recurs after cleaning
- External wet patches after rain — these often show a pattern matching where insulation has slumped or bridged the cavity
- Wall tie corrosion signs — cracking or bulging brickwork in a stepped pattern, usually a job for a specialist to confirm
Log the date of every photo, note the weather (heavy rain the night before matters), and keep every receipt, guarantee certificate, and piece of installer correspondence in one folder. If you can, commission a proper diagnostic: a borescope inspection or thermal imaging survey shows what’s actually happening inside the cavity rather than guessing from symptoms on the plaster.
Pro Tip: Keep a simple contact log, one line per entry, with the date, who you spoke to, and what they agreed to do. Insurers and CIGA both ask “when did you first report this?” and a scrappy memory doesn’t cut it as an answer.
Who should you contact first, and in what order?
GOV.UK’s own consumer guide to CWI issues is unambiguous: go to the installer first. Only if they’re unavailable or unresponsive should you move to the guarantee provider.
- Installer — write to them (email creates a timestamp) and ask specifically for an inspection date and a written remediation plan
- CIGA — check whether your installation carries a CIGA guarantee before assuming this is purely an insurance matter
- Your household insurer — notify them once there’s actual damage (timber decay, plaster failure), checking your policy for exclusions on gradual deterioration
- Ofgem or TrustMark — relevant only if the insulation was fitted under an ECO or Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) funded scheme
- Trading Standards — worth involving if you suspect the original sales process was misleading or coercive
Doorstep claims management companies sometimes approach homeowners uninvited after storms or cold snaps. GOV.UK specifically warns against signing anything on the spot.
How do you raise a claim with CIGA?
CIGA covers most professionally installed cavity wall insulation with a 25-year guarantee, and it’s designed so you never need a claims management company or solicitor to use it, according to CIGA’s own consumer guidance.
- Search CIGA’s database using your postcode or guarantee number to confirm cover exists
- If you can’t locate the installer or guarantee, CIGA can still often trace it. Have proof of ownership ready, since they may ask for ID
- Submit your concern with photos, a description of symptoms, and any installer correspondence you’ve already gathered
- Wait for CIGA’s response against their published timescales: acknowledgement within 2 working days, inspection within 5 working days, and a written report within 27 working days
- Where remedial work is agreed, expect a further period of working days depending on complexity
The guarantee typically transfers to new owners and stays valid for the full 25 years from installation, though CIGA’s guarantee terms do carry caps and exclusions worth reading before you assume everything is covered. Extraction and remedial plastering are often included; full internal redecoration usually isn’t.
How do you claim on your insurance for cavity wall damage?
Home insurance can cover consequential damage, meaning damp, rot, or plaster failure caused by the insulation, but rarely the insulation removal itself unless the installer has genuinely ceased trading or failed to rectify the fault.
Before you call your insurer, read your policy for:
- The exact wording on exclusions for “gradual deterioration” or “wear and tear”, which is where many claims get refused
- Whether there’s a defined test for “installer ceased to trade” or “failed to rectify”, since insurers apply these terms strictly
- What proof of loss they require, and whether that includes an independent survey report
Build your case with an installer report if you have one, your own dated photos, and ideally an independent OSCAR condition inspection that documents cavity condition using proper diagnostic methods rather than a surface glance.
The Financial Ombudsman’s decision in case DRN-4922177 shows exactly how insurers argue these cases: they lean on precise policy definitions and put the burden of proof on the homeowner. A consumer guide to mould-related insurance claims makes a similar point about how insurers scrutinise whether the homeowner mitigated damage promptly once it was discovered.
Pro Tip: If your insurer rejects the claim, ask for their decision in writing with the specific policy clause cited. Vague verbal refusals (“it’s not covered”) are far easier to challenge than a documented, specific reason.
What if your claim is rejected or the installer has gone bust?
Don’t accept a verbal no. Insurers and CIGA both have formal complaints routes, and most rejections can be challenged with better evidence rather than abandoned.
- Request the rejection reasons in writing, along with whatever evidence the insurer or CIGA relied on
- Raise a formal complaint through the insurer’s internal process, or CIGA’s complaints route, before going further
- If unresolved, the Financial Ombudsman Service can review insurer decisions, generally within six months of the insurer’s final response
- Commission an independent OSCAR condition inspection if you haven’t already. A fresh, evidence-led report often changes the outcome on appeal
- For smaller disputed sums, the small claims track is worth considering, though legal advice makes more sense once costs exceed a few thousand pounds
Why an independent inspection strengthens your claim
OSCAR Onsite authored the UK’s first Level 2 NVQ Diplomas in CWI Surveying & Inspection and CWI Extraction & Clearance, and every inspection we carry out follows the same evidence standard those qualifications were built on.
A condition report that combines borescope imagery, thermal imaging, and moisture readings gives CIGA and insurers exactly what their own assessors look for, rather than a homeowner’s description of symptoms they’re trying to interpret second hand.
What a proper report gives you:
- Borescope images showing cavity fill, voids, or debris directly, not inferred from wall staining
- Thermal imaging that maps cold bridging and slumped or missing insulation
- Moisture readings that distinguish penetrating damp caused by insulation failure from condensation or other causes
- A written condition assessment referenced against PAS 2030:2023 and BS 8104, the standards installers were meant to meet
OSCAR Onsite never recommends extraction on the back of a sales visit. If a survey concludes extraction is genuinely justified, we point homeowners to an OSCAR Onsite Accredited Member Firm for the work, followed by independent Technical Monitoring & Clearance Certification to confirm the cavity was properly cleared.
If you’re still at the “something’s wrong but I’m not sure how bad” stage, the sensible first move is a CWI condition inspection survey, before you approach CIGA or your insurer with a claim.
An editorial view on getting this right first time
The conventional advice on failed cavity insulation treats the process as linear: report it, wait, get paid. In practice, most claims stall not because the damage isn’t real, but because the evidence doesn’t match what CIGA or an insurer is structurally required to ask for. GOV.UK’s own guidance, CIGA’s published timescales, and the Ombudsman’s decisions all point at the same gap: homeowners under-document, then feel ambushed when a claim is refused on a technicality like “failed to rectify” not being met.
My honest take is that the independent inspection step gets treated as optional when it should be first. A borescope image and a moisture reading do more to move a claim than another phone call to the installer. Get the evidence right before you pick up the phone, not after someone’s already said no.
This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified financial advisor. Consult a qualified financial professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.
Sources
- Cavity wall insulation (CWI): consumer guide to issues arising from installations
- Financial Ombudsman decision DRN-4922177