Contents insurance

Your home is so much more than just the building you live in. It’s the sofa you dream about while on your daily commute, the TV you’re glued to on a Sunday afternoon, and the fully-stocked fridge you can’t wait to raid. Your home is your sanctuary, so understandably you’ll want to do everything you can to protect everything in it.

Unfortunately, accidents are unavoidable despite all our best efforts. But with the right home insurance, you can at least banish the worry and have peace of mind, knowing you’ve done all you can to safeguard your possessions.

Get a quote for M&S Contents Insurance

M&S Home Insurance is underwritten by Aviva Insurance Limited.

What is contents insurance and why do I need it?

Contents insurance typically covers any of your possessions that are not a fixed part of your home, such as furniture, electrical items and clothing.

Home contents insurance may not be compulsory, but imagine returning home one day to find your possessions had been lost due to water damage, fire or theft. Your laptop, your bed, the jewellery given to you by a favourite relative, even your clothes – you’d be lost without the things most precious to you, and they could cost so much to replace.

With contents insurance, if anything does go wrong, it could help you replace or repair your possessions while giving you the support you need when making a claim.

Why get home contents insurance from M&S Bank?

The level of cover you’ll receive with a contents insurance policy can vary significantly from one provider to the next. At M&S Bank, our contents insurance is designed to provide you with the protection you need, and our premier policy offers unlimited sums insured up to the total value of your belongings (subject to inner cover limits, which include contents away from your home, valuables, bicycles, money, electronic data downloads, liability, legal expenses and home emergency cover. Full details can be found in the policy wording). Some of the other benefits of a home contents policy with M&S Bank include:

  • A choice of premier or standard cover
  • 24 hour claims service
  • Flexible claims settlement; choose an alternative settlement instead of repair or replace
  • New for old cover. This means that no matter the age or condition of your belongings they’ll be replace with a new version or the latest equivalent
  • Cover for bicycles at home, with optional cover to help protect your bikes when you’re out and about
  • Cover for your garden contents

M&S Bank Home Insurance can cover both buildings and contents. Find out more about our building cover here.

What does M&S Bank's contents insurance cover?

M&S Bank’s premier contents insurance offers extensive protection including cover for:

  • Accidental damage
  • Unlimited contents (inner limits apply)
  • Unlimited garden contents, including theft or damage to plants
  • Dependent relatives’ possessions – if they are in a nursing home
  • Students’ contents while at college or university
  • Visitors’ belongings

Our standard contents insurance costs less; however, the cover limits are lower. Check out the policy booklet to find out more about the benefits and limits, or compare them here.

What's not covered?

M&S Home Insurance can’t cover everything, some of the things we don’t cover include:

  • Wet rot or dry rot damage
  • Damage caused by wear and tear
  • Damage or theft if your home has been unoccupied for more than 90 days in a row

Read the policy wording for full details of what is and isn’t covered with M&S Home Insurance.

M&S Home Insurance policy booklet(opens in a new window)

Looking for a quote?

Get a contents insurance quote today; we only need few details and you’ll have the option to spread the cost of your policy over 12 months at no extra cost.

Get a quote for M&S Contents Insurance

If you’re an existing customer, you can find out how to renew or change your policy, or make a claim by visiting our existing home insurance customer page.

M&S Home Insurance is underwritten by Aviva Insurance Limited. Terms and conditions apply.

FAQs

How do I make a claim?

There are no claim forms to complete. If your policy number begins 830, please call our claims line on 0800 111 4901. Lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday and 9am-5pm Saturday.

If your policy number begins MHO, please call 0800 051 2556 and our claims team will be happy to help. Lines are open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Please have your policy number to hand when you call.

How can I pay?

You can pay by monthly instalments or in one annual premium.

Monthly instalments are paid by Direct Debit over 12 months and there is no additional charge to pay this way. If you choose to renew your policy, we will continue to take payments by instalment unless you tell us otherwise.

You can make an annual payment each year by credit or debit card and to assist you at renewal we can automatically renew the policy by your chosen payment method to make sure you continue to be covered.

Are there any charges to change or cancel my policy?

We don't charge a fee for mid-term changes, but depending on the change, there might be an additional premium to pay. To make sure that you have the right cover in place, please let us know of any changes that occur during the annual policy term.

If you wish to cancel the policy, there is no charge to do so.

What's a policy excess?

This is the amount of money you have to pay if you make a claim.

M&S Home Insurance has an excess of £100 on the buildings and contents sections, and you can choose to increase the excess and receive a discount to your premium.

If you make a claim that affects both the buildings and the contents, we will only charge you one excess on your claim, this will be the higher of the two if they are different.

Please note that for any buildings claim for subsidence, heave or landslip an excess of at least £1,000 will apply. Also an excess of at least £250 will apply to escape of water claims, this will be increased if you have chosen a higher voluntary excess on buildings or contents.

How do I know how much to insure my home and contents for?

You need to give us a value for the total amount of cover you need for all the contents you may take away from your home at any time and if you want Pedal Cycle cover away from home you need to tell us the value of your most expensive cycle.

Otherwise you just need to make sure that our cover limits are sufficient for you:

Premier:

  • Buildings: unlimited
  • Contents: unlimited
  • Contents away from home: your choice up to a max total of £50,000
  • Total valuables in the home: £50,000
  • Single valuable items: £15,000
  • Data: £2,500
  • Property owners' and personal liability cover: £5m
  • Domestic employees' liability cover: £10m
  • Tenants' liability: £40,000

Standard:

  • Buildings: £1m
  • Contents: £100,000
  • Contents away from home: your choice up to a max total of £25,000
  • Total valuables in the home: £25,000
  • Single valuable items: £10,000
  • Data: £2,500
  • Property owners' and personal liability cover: £2m
  • Domestic employees' liability cover: £10m
  • Tenants' liability: £40,000

Cover you can rely on

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