British households waste an average of £144.5 million every month by not switching their home insurance, according to research.

Figures from Barclays Insurance show that British homeowners are overpaying on their home insurance by an average of £1.7 billion a year – on average £112.95 per household.

Premiums on household insurance can vary immensely, ranging from £195.73 to £308.68 and 85 per cent of consumers do not think to switch their home insurance, even at annual renewal time.

"If people do shop around they can typically save up to 30 per cent on their premiums. However, home insurance premiums don't represent extremely good value because on average they have only risen by a very small margin," explained Ian Crowder, a spokesperson from AA Insurance Services.

"In one sense Barclays are right, people could be paying more than they need to simply because they haven't bothered to shop around. People do shop around for their car insurance but they don't shop around for their home insurance."