Terrible toddlers are bringing down the house

Adults are paying out more than £552m to pay for the damage caused around the home by reckless children, according to Abbey Insurance.

More than 2.5 million homes have suffered at the hands of children in the last year alone, with children aged between one and five years of age most likely to cause damage (23%), followed by six to 10-year olds (22%).

Boys turned out to be more than twice as likely to cause destruction than girls, with children in Scotland taking the title of most mischievous, causing damage that cost an average of £625 to rectify.

Most worryingly, more than one in five of those suffering damage to their property believed that the child had deliberately caused the damage to their home.

Tony Beckwith, head of Abbey Insurance UK, said: “Dealing with the damage caused by children can be inconvenient, costly and cause unwanted tension if people do not have the appropriate level of insurance cover.

“We would urge anyone looking after children this summer to try and avoid unwanted payouts by ensuring they have the proper cover on their home insurance, including any additional full accidental damage options required on their policies.”

The most common damage was to paintwork or wallpaper – 38% of all people who have had the misfortune of suffering damage to their property have needed redecoration. The second most common form of damage was to furniture (31%) with broken ornaments or other items coming in third (30%).