For further information about the Horizon IT Scandal, please visit our corporate website

Protect the things that matter

Our possessions are part of our lifestyle. TVs, kids’ toys, gym equipment, computers, jewellery, artwork and more. Imagine the cost if you had to replace some or even all of it. That’s what our Contents Insurance is for. 

What does Contents Insurance cover?

It can be helpful to think of contents as everything that would fall out if you turned your house upside down. And Contents Insurance is there to protect all those things from fire, theft and flooding.

You can choose to add an extra level of cover when you buy your policy to protect against accidental damage, which is damage done by you or someone in your house by accident. An example might be spilling a glass of wine onto a carpet. Accidental Damage comes as standard with our Gold cover.

  • Furniture

  • Entertainment and electrical appliances

  • Kitchenware and white goods

  • Cash and credit cards

  • Jewellery and artwork

  • Clothes and unfixed rugs and carpets

Contents Insurance cover levels

We offer two different cover levels to suit your needs: Silver and Gold. For full details of what is and isn’t covered read our policy booklet. For more information read our Home Insurance policy terms and conditions.

Cover features

Silver

defaqto 5 star award

Gold

defaqto 5 star award

Insurance Product Information Document (IPID)

Silver

Gold

Contents

The maximum amount you can claim for

Silver

Up to £80,000

Gold

Up to £100,000

Valuables inside the home

The limit on belongings such as jewellery, ornaments and works of art

Silver

Up to £24,000

Gold

Up to £30,000

Valuables single item limit

The maximum we’ll pay out on a valuable item

Silver

Up to £2,500

Gold

Up to £2,500

Away from home cover

Covers you for possessions, like your money and mobile, when you take them away from home

Silver

Not included. Available as an optional add-on to your policy

Gold

Up to £3,000

Accidental breakage to home entertainment equipment

We’ll pay claims for accidental damage to televisions, DVD players, games consoles, desktop computers and audio equipment

Silver

Included

Gold

Included

Additional accidental damage

Cover for unexpected and unintended damage caused by something sudden and not deliberate

Silver

Not included. Available as an optional add-on to your policy

Gold

Included

Matching sets

Covers a matching pair, set or suite of furniture, soft furnishings, fitted furniture, bathroom suite or fitted kitchen if damaged by something covered by this policy

Silver

Not included

Gold

Included

Choose buildings cover, contents cover or both

Whatever stage you’re at in life, protecting what matters most to you is a must. Perhaps you’ve just bought your first house. Or you’re packing up to move into a student flat. It’s important to protect what’s yours.

Buildings Insurance

  • Covers the physical structure of your building
  • Protects the building and its fixtures that can’t be taken anywhere
  • Covers against, flooding, leaking water, theft and attempted theft, subsidence or malicious damage to the fabric of the building*
  • Covers the cost of the building up to £1m

Contents Insurance

  • Covers the items inside which aren’t a part of the building’s structure
  • Covers your contents against the same perils as buildings, as well as theft of possessions
  • Covers the cumulative value of your contents up to £100,000 (for Gold policies) and £80,000 (Silver policies)
  • Protects the things you’d take with you if you were to move

Common contents insurance questions

  • It isn’t compulsory to get contents insurance but the cost of having to replace everything yourself could be very expensive if you weren’t insured.

  • Only you know the value of your contents. It can be time-consuming to take an inventory of everything you own and work out the total value, however it’s a worthwhile exercise if you want to get a representative home insurance quote.

    It can be helpful to go room to room, making a list of the items within it and estimating a value for each if you don’t know or can’t remember what you paid for it initially. Remember, your contents includes everything that isn’t a part of the essential fabric of the building and isn’t limited to just the obvious items like a television or a laptop. Your bed, bed sheets, cupboard, lamps, curtains, chests of drawers and so on are all going to be included in your inventory.

    If you don’t know the value of certain items because they may have changed over the years, then it may be a good idea to get them professionally valued.

    If you have any individual items that have a high value, then you should declare these when you complete your home insurance quote. We may offer cover for items worth more than £2,500 if they are listed as such.

  • Anything that is a part of the building rather than a possession wouldn’t be covered by contents insurance and instead would need to be covered by a buildings policy.

  • No. Your policy does not cover for anything that happens gradually. This includes damage to electrical and domestic appliances caused by them breaking down. Home maintenance is important and it is your responsibility to look after your building and contents. Your policy is designed to only cover you for things that you couldn’t have reasonably predicted.

  • Accidental Damage is an extra level of home insurance cover and separate from damage included on your main policy. Your policy will already cover you for damage caused by a storm, fire, flood or theft and attempted theft.

    Accidental damage is sudden, unexpected harm done to your building or contents unintentionally. It is damage done by you or someone in your house. This could be accidentally drilling through a pipe when doing DIY, for instance. Or, in the case of contents insurance, it could be knocking a glass of red wine onto a carpet. You will need to purchase Accidental Damage cover at the same time you buy your policy – it can’t be added on later. Only you can decide if you want or need Accidental Damage cover. Accidental Damage comes as standard with our Gold product.

    Please remember to consider your compulsory and voluntary policy excess before you make any Accidental Damage claim because often the claim damage is less than the excess amount.

  • It means that your policy will renew automatically when your policy comes up for renewal next year. It is a convenient stress-free way of staying insured. We’ll send a reminder 28 days before your renewal date so you can check the details, and make sure you are still happy to go ahead.

  • If you choose to pay by monthly instalments, you will be charged for the credit, and this is indicated by the (variable) APR%. Premium Credit Limited (PCL) may also charge a £5 facility fee, which covers their ongoing regulatory operating costs of affordability and anti-money laundering checks. This means you pay more for a monthly payment plan than you would for an annual lump sum arrangement.

  • PCL are a third-party finance provider, appointed by Post Office Insurance to provide credit to our customers who’d like to pay monthly by direct debit for their Home Insurance. You can contact PCL on 03447 369 820.

  • Read more home insurance FAQs

Need some help?

For Family Legal Protection

Call DAS on:

0344 893 0956*

For Home Emergency claims

Call DAS on:

0800 032 9806

Home insurance help and support

For all other claims, to retrieve a quote, manage your policy online, find answers to common questions or contact us: 

Visit our home insurance support page

*Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calling a standard geographic number starting with 01 or 02 from your fixed line or mobile and may be included in your call package dependent on your service provider. Calls may be monitored or recorded for training and compliance purposes.

About our home insurance

Post Office Management Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and is registered in England and Wales. Our financial services registered number is 630318. The registered office for Post Office Management Services Limited is 100 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7ER. Our Registered Number is 08459718.