A spate of natural disasters has driven a rise in enquiries to the National Insurance Brokers Association’s (NIBA) broker search website and call centre.

The free Need A Broker service has been used 108,000 times in the past year, up significantly on the previous year, the association says.

The call centre received 24,072 enquiries between November last year and last month, up from 14,555 in the previous corresponding period.

The website was “enhanced” in June last year following government initiatives led by then-financial services minister Bill Shorten to improve transparency on flood insurance for consumers.

“Unfortunately, it often takes a series of devastating natural disasters for many people to consider whether they have adequate cover and whether they need some expert advice,” NIBA CEO Dallas Booth said.