Halifax Home Insurance Select: cover levels, excesses and claims

Halifax Home Insurance Select is a home insurance policy sold directly by Halifax, in three levels of cover: Bronze, Silver and Gold. You choose whether you want buildings cover, contents cover or both, and the level you pick sets the limits.

The policy is underwritten by the same company behind Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds Bank branded home insurance¹. It is not sold on price comparison sites: quotes come from Halifax directly, online or over the phone, and you do not need to hold a Halifax current account to buy one².

Two things are changing around the policy. The Halifax brand is moving to Lloyds, and Halifax says your cover and the service you get will not be affected, with policies moving across at a later date⁴. And the price you pay depends on choices you make, including the excess you pick, which is the amount you pay towards a successful claim².

Bronze, Silver and Gold: the three cover levels

Halifax offers three levels of cover for each of buildings and contents: Bronze, Silver and Gold². The level you choose sets both the amount of cover and which features are included as standard, so the difference between them is not only the headline limit.

On contents, Bronze covers up to £50,000, Silver up to £100,000 and Gold up to £250,000⁷. Halifax's own support pages put the same three figures, £50,000, £100,000 or £250,000, as the range depending on the level chosen⁶.

Accidental damage is where the levels diverge most. On Bronze it is not available on buildings cover². On Silver and Gold it is included, up to £100,000 on Silver and up to £50,000 on Bronze for contents⁷. Halifax states that if you choose Silver or Gold cover, it includes accidental damage and legal expenses as standard⁶. Accidental damage to buildings is included up to the full rebuild cost on Silver and Gold⁹.

Away-from-home cover, which insures your belongings when you take them out of the house, is optional rather than standard, and is available on all three levels³. That matters because contents cover on its own protects your belongings in the home, not the laptop or bike you carry around with you.

Halifax also sells a separate product called Halifax Home Insurance Ultimate, described as a more inclusive offering where additional cover and higher limits are included as standard¹⁰. That sits alongside Select rather than within it, so a quote for Select will not include those higher limits.

What is covered as standard, including outbuildings

Buildings cover pays the costs of repairing or rebuilding your home, and contents cover pays to repair or replace your belongings. On a combined policy, Halifax states that this includes your outbuildings and the things in them, plus gates, fences, paths, driveways and patios⁸. Outbuildings are covered as standard on the policy⁸.

Contents insurance itself protects against the cost of repairing or replacing household goods and personal belongings when they are in the home, if they are stolen or damaged by events such as fire, flood and storm¹¹. Things in your garages and outbuildings are covered up to £5,000⁷.

Buildings cover is written on a full rebuild cost basis at every level, Bronze, Silver and Gold⁹. Halifax states that its buildings insurance covers the full rebuild cost of your home⁶. That is the cost of rebuilding from scratch, including demolition and professional fees, not the market value of the property or the amount left on a mortgage. Getting that figure wrong is a common source of trouble: the Financial Ombudsman Service has published a case where an insurer did not provide guidance on rebuild cost, and the complaint was upheld¹².

If your home is not fit to live in, Halifax says it will pay the extra cost for you, your family and household pets to stay somewhere else until you can move back in⁵.

Where the policy will not pay out

The exclusions matter as much as the cover. Halifax states plainly that it does not cover wear and tear, and will not accept claims if the weather does not meet its thresholds¹. On storm claims, Halifax verifies the weather in your area using specialist data, with extra checks for highly local storms and possible expert inspection¹. Most home insurance policies do not cover wear and tear, and bad weather often highlights rather than causes existing maintenance issues¹³.

Water damage has its own boundary. Most insurers will cover the damage caused by the water but not the repair to the leak itself, unless it was caused by freezing¹³. So a burst pipe that ruins a ceiling is one thing; fixing the pipe is another.

Contents left outside are not covered if a flood damages them while they are in the open⁸. That is a specific exclusion rather than a general one, and it catches garden furniture, tools and anything else left out during a flood.

Home Emergency cover excludes claims raised as a result of wear and tear, and boiler claims are not covered¹⁴. The Financial Ombudsman Service warns that most home emergency policies will not let you arrange your own repair and claim the cost back, and that insurers usually reject a claim made that way¹⁵.

There is also a structural limit worth knowing. Many policies do not cover damage to parts of the property other than the main residence, such as patios, paths and terraces, unless the main residence is also affected¹⁶. Halifax's own wording on combined policies includes paths, driveways and patios, so the two positions are not identical, and the policy document for the level you buy is what governs your claim.

How excesses work on a claim

An excess is the amount you pay towards any successful claim you make⁵. On Halifax Home Insurance Select you decide the excess, and Halifax states that the higher the excess you choose, the less you could pay for your cover². The excess that applies to your policy varies depending on the level of cover you selected and the excess amounts you chose⁵.

Some types of claim carry their own excess regardless of what you picked.

Home Emergency cover is the exception: Halifax states there is no excess to pay on it⁹.

If you need to pay an excess, you will be contacted about it rather than having to work it out yourself¹⁸. That mirrors how excesses are handled more widely: if there is an excess to pay on a policy, the insurer will usually contact you to settle it¹⁹.

The excess comes off the settlement, so the amount paid out is the claim less the excess you chose.

Paying for the policy: annually or monthly

Halifax says you can spread the cost and pay monthly with no extra charges⁸. When you buy the policy, you can select which day of the month you would prefer to make your monthly payment on⁶. Discounts available online are the same as those available over the phone, so the channel you use does not change the price¹⁷.

The policy renews automatically each year unless you have asked Halifax not to renew it¹⁷. Halifax states that if you have chosen to stay covered, it will renew your policy if you do not get in touch². That is standard practice across home insurance, and it means the renewal price arrives whether or not you shop around. If you are not happy with the renewal price, Halifax says a discount may be offered⁶.

If you are struggling to pay, Halifax says it might be able to give you more time to pay, such as a payment holiday or changing the date you make your payment⁶. On cancellation, Halifax lists options including requesting a payment holiday, checking whether there is any part of your cover you no longer need, and seeing whether there is any other way to reduce the cost²⁰.

Who provides the cover behind the Halifax name

Halifax Home Insurance Select is underwritten by the same company that stands behind Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds Bank branded home insurance policies²¹. All claims are handled centrally by their customer support teams¹.

Home Emergency cover is arranged differently. It is provided by Allianz Assistance¹⁸. So a home emergency claim goes through a different firm from the rest of your policy, even though you bought it from Halifax.

Halifax is a division of Bank of Scotland plc, registered in Scotland with company number SC327000 and its registered office at The Mound, Edinburgh EH1 1YZ¹³. Its trading names include Halifax, Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Intelligent Finance and BM Solutions²².

Deposit protection and insurance protection are separate. Money held in Halifax savings accounts is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 of eligible money held with Halifax²³.

Halifax is changing to Lloyds: what it means for policyholders

The Halifax brand is changing to Lloyds²⁴. For insurance customers, Halifax states that your policy will change to Lloyds at a later date, and that it will be in touch when it is closer to the time⁴. In the meantime, your cover and the service Halifax provides will not be affected⁴.

The protection you have does not change either. Halifax states that customers get the same protection they get today²⁵. That applies across the group's products: Halifax has said the same about loans, where an existing loan stays as Halifax until it is paid off and will not change to Lloyds²⁵, and about mortgages, where existing accounts and service are not affected immediately and customers will be contacted before any rebrand²⁶.

For home insurance specifically, the practical effect is that nothing needs doing now. The policy continues on its current terms, claims are made the same way, and the change of name happens on Halifax's timetable rather than yours. When the policy does move to Lloyds, the firm standing behind the cover is not changing²¹.

Halifax says policies will move to Lloyds at a later date, with customers contacted beforehand.

Staying safe from scams when dealing with your insurer

Insurance is a common cover story for fraudsters, because a call about a policy or a claim is plausible and often expected. Halifax's own guidance is specific: you can check that it called you by hanging up and then dialling 159 to talk to the company²⁷. That number is a redirect service that connects you to your own bank, so the person who called you is not on the line.

Halifax offers 24 hour help for reporting a suspected fraudulent incident or transaction²⁴. If you are unsure whether a message, call or email about your policy is genuine, contact the insurer on a number you have looked up yourself rather than one you were given.

On claims, Halifax says it may send a personal claims consultant to help with your claim⁸. A genuine visit will follow a claim you have already made through Halifax's own claims process, so an unexpected doorstep visit about insurance you did not claim on is a warning sign rather than a service.

Making a claim and complaining

Claims are handled centrally by Halifax's customer support teams¹. You can start a claim through Halifax's claims process, and if you need to pay an excess you will be contacted about it¹⁸. If your home is not fit to live in, Halifax says it will pay the extra cost for you, your family and household pets to stay somewhere else until you can move back in⁵.

If something goes wrong, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about home insurance, including home emergency cover and subsidence¹⁵. Its published decisions show where insurers get things wrong: one case involved an insurer that did not provide guidance on rebuild cost, and the complaint was upheld¹². Another case, about a declined claim, turned on the same principle that the policy wording governs the outcome²⁸.

Halifax's own complaints process gives an initial response timescale, and a further update if the complaint is still being investigated.

For free, impartial help with a complaint or with money worries, MoneyHelper and the Financial Ombudsman Service both provide guidance at no cost. If you are struggling to pay for cover, Halifax lists options including a payment holiday and reducing the cover you no longer need²⁰.