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Safe as houses in Kensington and Chelsea

• But the home risk is highest in Doncaster
• Virgin Money researchers rank the safest houses in England & Wales

Householders in the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea are literally safe as houses – or at least the safest in England and Wales, new research* from Virgin Money Home Insurance shows.

The Royal Borough, home to some of the world’s most expensive houses and wealthiest people, edges out Dudley in the West Midlands and Poole in Dorset for having the safest houses in England and Wales.

Householders in Doncaster however have the riskiest houses ahead of near neighbours in Sheffield and Nottingham.

Virgin Money Home Insurance researchers rated the major towns and cities in England and Wales to find where the safest homes as ranked by risks of criminal damage, burglary and flooding and levels of protection from Neighbourhood Watch schemes, as well as numbers of police officers.

Cities and towns were allocated points which were weighted to reflect population. The degree of risk with London boroughs were also rated separately.

Kensington & Chelsea performed well across all criteria but scored particularly because of the low levels of criminal damage and because it faces limited flood risks. Burglary risk however was relatively high in the borough.

Doncaster, Sheffield and Nottingham all suffer from relatively higher risks of criminal damage and burglary while also facing increased flood risk, the research shows. The tables below show the safest and riskiest areas in England and Wales.

Grant Bather, spokesman at Virgin Money, said: “It really is a case of safe as houses in Kensington & Chelsea as well as Poole and Dudley. The criteria we have used helped to provide a guide as to how safe houses rather than people are.

“That doesn’t of course mean that Doncaster or Nottingham or Sheffield are unsafe or dangerous but it does help show that there are higher risks in those areas when it comes to a range of issues. There is no need to have nightmares.

“Householders can take action to improve the safety of their houses with simple steps such as improving locks and installing burglar alarms as well as getting home insurance for peace of mind. In the current economic downturn it makes sense to save money by shopping around for insurance but not by cutting the quality of insurance.”

Nottingham and Manchester had the highest proportion of burglaries while Poole and Swindon had the lowest proportion of burglaries.

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

*  Research conducted in March 2009 by Virgin Money researchers using publicly available sources including the Office of National Statistics, Home Office, Environment Agency and Association of Police Authorities. Totals for each town/city/London borough were calculated using rankings for flood risks, numbers of police, criminal damage, burglaries and Neighbourhood Watch.

For further information:

Grant Bather, Public Relations Manager, Virgin Money
07834 844 427

Kevan Reilly/Billy Partridge, Citigate Dewe Rogerson
0207 638 9571

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About Virgin Money

Virgin Money is Virgin’s financial services arm and was established in 1995.

Virgin Money has over two million customers and offers a wide range of financial products across lending (e.g. credit cards and personal loans), savings (e.g. deposits, investments and pensions) and protection (e.g. life insurance, home insurance and car insurance) to the UK market.

Virgin Money Personal Financial Service Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Registered Office: Discovery House, Whiting Road, Norwich NR4 6EJ. Registered in England no. 3072766. Entered on the Financial Services Register (www.fsa.gov.uk/register), Register Number: 179271