The average ‘Insurance Gap’ stands at £3,400 leaving many valuable items under-insured.

The survey highlights that although more 27% of British homeowners own expensive antiques and jewelry, 80% admit they have no idea how much these items are worth.

Carl Burton, home insurance manager at The Co-operative, said: “Understandably, people forget to update their home insurance policies, and don’t tend to regularly evaluate how much their belongings are worth.

“However, items such as great antiques like the ones at https://www.antiques.co.uk/ and other objects made from gold, like watches or rings, tend to increase in value every year, meaning they may well have gone up in value since you last insured them.

“This could be a problem if the worst happens and you have to make a claim, as you will only get back the amount of money you originally insured your items for – meaning you could potentially lose out on hundreds of pounds.”

While items like gold jewellery, ornaments and musical instruments are under-insured, technological gadgets like mobile phones and laptops are ‘over-insured’ because these items quickly become outdated.

Tips to ensure your belongings are covered

• ‘Under-insured’ belongings are commonly antiques as well as gold items, which grow in value year on year. It’s always worth having these items reviewed professionally by an antiques expert, who can tell you their current value
• Think about updating your insurance after life events and occasions, for example, a wedding, Christmas or an anniversary where you may have received expensive gifts
• When you take out or renew home insurance, walk through all the rooms in your house adding up the rough value of all the items you own to give you a more accurate assessment
• Some comparison sites provide home insurance calculators to help you assess the value of items in your home