Gloucester-based Ecclesiastical has been ranked as the top home insurer by Fairer Finance for the seventh time in a row.

The specialist insurer topped the Fairer Finance Spring 2018 Home Insurance table overall, above the 46 other insurers that were rated, including Aviva, John Lewis, Hiscox and NFU Mutual.

Ecclesiastical was also ranked first for customer happiness with a score of 80 per cent - eight per cent above the runner-up - and in the customer trust category (with a score of 74 per cent, nine per cent ahead of second place). These scores represented five per cent and four per cent increases respectively for Ecclesiastical from the last Fairer Finance survey in Autumn 2017.

The independent consumer group surveys around 23,000 UK banking and insurance customers twice a year, asking them to rate how satisfied they are with their bank or insurance company in four key areas; happiness, trust, complaints handling and transparency.

Mark Hews, group chief executive of Ecclesiastical Insurance(pictured), said: "I am delighted that Ecclesiastical has once again been named as the best home insurer by Fairer Finance. It's particularly pleasing that customers have put us top of the table for the seventh successive time and a long way ahead of the best of the rest for customer trust and happiness.

"Ecclesiastical is a different kind of business. Our charitable ownership means we can focus on doing the right thing, without conflict between customer and shareholder or owner interests, and our approach motivates us to care more about who and what we insure.

"We are committed to being the most trusted financial services group in all of our markets, so it is absolutely fantastic to hear that our customers believe they can trust us to do the right thing when it comes to protecting their homes."