How data is redefining what’s insurable

Addresscloud CEO, Mark Varley, recently featured in Insurance Times’ exploration into the growing importance of data in reshaping Britain’s insurance landscape. In the piece, titled “Mapped out: How data is helping insurers navigate risky postcodes”, Varley’s contribution stood out for its clear-eyed assessment of the risks of overreliance on postcode-level data and his call for smarter, more ethical underwriting grounded in precise geospatial intelligence.

Data disparity in an evolving insurance market

The article paints a stark picture: as climate risks intensify and fraud clusters shift, Britain’s personal lines map is being redrawn. Some areas, such as flood-prone Whalley or fraud-heavy BD3 in Bradford, are being flagged as increasingly difficult to insure. But this reshaping isn’t just due to weather or crime trends. It's being driven, crucially, by data, and the uneven ways it's being used.

Insurers that invest in detailed, property-level modelling are pulling ahead. Those that rely on broader metrics, such as postcodes, risk falling behind or pulling out of difficult areas altogether. This bifurcation, as the article highlights, is raising questions about access and long-term sustainability.

Granularity over generalisation

Addresscloud’s Mark Varley is at the centre of this shift. Speaking to Insurance Times, he acknowledged that insurers are becoming significantly more data-savvy and credited Addresscloud with driving that transformation.

“Insurers are getting a lot smarter,” Varley said, “Data companies and vendors like ourselves are spending an awful lot of effort on this.”

However, Varley didn’t shy away from pointing out a growing concern: an overreliance on postcode data for crime-related underwriting, which he called “coarse” and lacking in nuance.

“It’s unlikely you’re going to have one street that’s a really high crime area and then you walk around the corner and it’s absolutely fine,” he said, drawing attention to the real-world consequences of outdated or imprecise geographic segmentation.

Beyond the postcode

Addresscloud’s approach goes further than postcode-level generalisations. Addresscloud advocates for hexagon-based segmentation, providing insurers with granular, property-level insight that accounts for hyperlocal variation in risk, from elevation and flood exposure to urban density and building type.

This kind of modelling doesn’t just enable more accurate pricing, it opens up access. As insurers face pressure to balance solvency with fairness, the tools provided by Addresscloud are becoming essential for ethical underwriting. Insurers armed with this level of detail can distinguish between insurable and uninsurable risks more justly, even in so-called “difficult” postcodes.

A more ethical risk map

The Insurance Times article concludes with a pressing question: Is the retreat from certain areas a market failure, or simply market function? Addresscloud’s work, and Varley’s comments, suggest a third path, that smarter data modelling can create a more just and inclusive insurance market.

With Flood Re facing rising costs, and with fraud risks continuing to complicate urban underwriting, the industry’s future depends on insight, not assumptions. Through its geospatial intelligence and emphasis on precision, Addresscloud is helping insurers move beyond the postcode, towards a more ethical and accurate model of risk.

To read the article in full, click here: Mapped out: How data is helping insurers navigate risky postcodes | Insurance Times