Funding for homes and business' flood resilience is not easily accessible, according to new data.

Only 72% of those applying for the government's Property Flood Resilience (PFR) repair grant scheme are successful according to new data from Greenpeace. 

The PFR scheme assists home and business owners in improving the flood resilience of their individual properties.  

Up to £5,000 is available per property to repair homes and businesses for works undertaken to make them more flood resilient or recover quicker from future flooding. 

After extreme rainfall over much of England and Wales during the past week, these figures highlight how inconsistent and complicated it can be for small businesses trying to access the funding. 

The data obtained by Greenpeace’s Unearthed investigative unit found that on average, 72% of applicants to the PFR scheme in England were successful in 2020, the most recent year for which figures are available. 

The grants are only delivered when works have been completed that are proven, by an independent surveyor, to improve the flood resilience of a property.

A Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: “Protecting communities from flooding is an absolute priority for this government, which is why we will have launched a flood resilience taskforce to turbocharge the delivery of flood defences and natural flood management. 

“The PFR grant helps make homes more resilient in case of future flooding events and grant funding is paid once the works are done, to ensure appropriate use of public money. 

“Local authorities are responsible for assessing and approving individual applications for the PFR grant, which alongside the Flood Recovery Framework is only activated following severe weather events with wide area impacts. With localised flooding incidents, we would expect local authorities to have well-established contingency arrangements in place.”