BURGLARIES are on the increase across the West Midlands and Warwickshire, new statistics have revealed.
The research has been carried out by rural insurance broker Lycetts which found, despite the figures, two fifths of homeowners had no intention of stepping up their home security.
The statistics also showed 11 per cent intended to review their home contents insurance and 79 per cent believed the challenging financial climate would lead to an increase in the number of break-ins.
The research coincides with the release of the latest Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) year ending June 2023.
The findings, up to the year ending in June 2023, found, in the West Midlands, the number of incidents rose by two per cent in June 2023, compared to June 2022, with 23,469 residential burglaries being reported. In Warwickshire, there was a five per cent rise.
Lycetts insurance expert Freddie Hamilton Russell said: “These are difficult times, which is why it’s important that homeowners check they have adequate insurance in place should the worst happen, and they become victims of burglary.
“Burglars will often target small, expensive items such as watches and jewellery as they are easy to transport and sell-on swiftly.
“A common mistake is to renew home insurance cover each year without re-calculating the value of possessions, simply giving an ‘educated guess’ of their worth.
“An item’s value for insurance purposes is how much it would cost to buy new, not what it cost when you bought it.”
He added getting written professional valuations was the safest route to being sufficiently insured, adding homeowners should travel room by room, logging item by item as part of a detailed inventory. People needed to be diligent about receipt-keeping for high value items.
And some possessions, such as expensive jewellery, collectables, family heirlooms, valuable antiques or fine art may need separate specialist cover.
It is the policy holder and not the insurer who is responsible for ensuring their insurance sums are adequate.