The short answer
Accidental damage cover, where your policy includes it, is aimed at sudden, unexpected harm such as a ladder through a tile or a delivery driver's reversing mishap. It usually excludes wear and tear, gradual leaks and poor maintenance. Your policy wording and schedule decide, so read both and speak to your insurer before any repair starts. Nothing here promises a claim will succeed.
What accidental damage usually means
Standard buildings cover protects a house against named risks such as fire, storm and flood. Accidental damage is a wider extra that some insurers sell on top, and a few build into a higher tier. It is meant for a sudden event that nobody intended, rather than something that crept up or was always going to happen.
On a roof, the typical examples are a contractor's ladder cracking a slate, an aerial fitter breaking tiles, a ball or a falling branch on a still day, or a scaffold pole striking the covering. Each has a clear moment, a clear cause and a visible result. Because every insurer words this differently, the schedule and the policy booklet are the only reliable guide to what your own cover includes, and a call to the insurer can confirm anything that reads ambiguously.
What policies commonly exclude
Most policies leave out damage that builds slowly. The Financial Ombudsman Service notes that wear and tear and gradual deterioration are frequent exclusions, and Which? points to water coming in via a neglected roof as a typical case a standard policy may refuse. A roof that has leaked for months, tiles that were already loose, or flashing that has perished with age all fall on the wrong side of that line.
Faulty workmanship is another common exclusion, and so is harm caused by a tradesperson you paid, which would usually be a matter between you and them. Look also at whether the policy excludes roofs in poor repair, and what the excess is. The excess can swallow a large share of a small bill, so a minor job may not be worth a claim at all.
How it differs from storm cover
Storm damage sits under the main perils of the policy, and the insurer will ask whether there was a storm and whether the storm caused the harm. Accidental damage does not depend on weather. It depends on whether something happened that nobody planned. Our page on flashing blown off a roof deals with the storm side of that divide, where wind is the cause.
The distinction matters because the evidence differs. For a storm you will want dates and weather. For an accident you will want a description of the event, the names of anyone involved and photographs of the harm. If it is unclear which applies, give the insurer the facts and let them decide, instead of choosing the label yourself and risking a mismatch with the policy wording.
Who pays when someone else caused it
If a contractor, a delivery driver or a neighbour damaged your roof, they may be responsible whatever your own policy says. Their insurance may pay, and your insurer may pursue the cost from them afterwards. Do not accept a cash offer to drop the matter until you know how bad the damage is, because the full extent often only shows once the covering is lifted.
After a storm, some cold callers claim to have spotted damage and press for an instant job. Our page on storm chaser roofers explains how to recognise that approach and what to ask before agreeing to anything. A genuine problem will still be there after a day of thought.
What to do before any repair
Tell your insurer early. Advice from the ABI during Storm Eunice in 2022 was to get in touch promptly and, where needed, to arrange emergency work that stops the damage spreading, but to check with the insurer beforehand. Hold on to every receipt, because it forms part of any claim. Photograph the damage from the ground, from a window and from the loft if you can do so safely. Do not climb onto the roof.
Where water is coming in, our first job is to stop it, and we then photograph the fault and write up the quote. We do not handle insurance claims for customers, and we cannot say whether yours will be accepted. If you are unsure that a claim is worthwhile, our page on whether a roof leak is worth claiming sets out the questions to ask first.
If the claim is turned down
Ask the insurer in writing for its reasons and for the policy clause it relied on. Take your complaint to the insurer before anyone else. The Financial Ombudsman Service will consider your case when the insurer has not given a final answer inside eight weeks, or when you are dissatisfied with the answer it did give. Our overview of emergency roof repairs describes how we keep a building weathertight in the meantime, and the page on types of storm damage helps when it is unclear which cause applies.
Before you rely on accidental damage at all, check whether the cover was actually bought. It is easy to assume it is included, only to find it appears as an optional line on the schedule, with its own excess and its own limit. Look too at any cap on single items, since a roof is a large item and some policies treat building fabric differently from contents.
Keep a simple diary of dates, calls and letters. Insurers and ombudsmen both work from the paper trail, and a tidy one saves weeks of back and forth.