The Handbook

Registered users can access the Handbook and Data here or by clicking the cover on the left. (you must log in first).

What is the Multi-Coloured Handbook (MCH)?

The Handbook is intended to be a stand-alone “Step-by-Step” guide to assessing the benefits of flood and coastal erosion risk management. When put together with the knowledge of the costs of the plans and schemes required, the user can assess the relationship between the benefits and costs of investment decisions. This comparison should enable the users to identify those risk management plans and schemes which maximise the economic return to England and Wales, and therefore, represent “best value for money” by being economically efficient. Methodology can be applied to a range of flood types including fluvial, coastal and surface water flooding.

What does it contain?

Methods for estimating damage to residential and non-residential property (NRP) [view sample]
Updated residential and non-residential depth/damage data (provided in Excel and flat file formats), including curves for saltwater flooding and wave damage [view sample]
Vehicle damages and evacuation costs
Property-level protection measures and flood-warning information
Methods for estimating direct and indirect flood losses to schools, hospitals, utilities, and transportation networks [view sample]
Revised data for agricultural losses and recreational benefits
Updated database and the Handbook to 2026 prices using an appropriate index (CPI, GDP deflator)

2026-27 revisions and additions:

Reform of FCERM Funding

The announcement of Defra’s reform of FCERM funding has led to some changes to policy and subsequently to some elements of appraisal in April 2026. Other changes to appraisal may be forthcoming and it may be necessary to update the Multi-Coloured Handbook as these are introduced. Users are recommended to refer to the most up-to-date guidance appropriate to the appraisal context.

High level appraisal

From April 2026 the Environment Agency have introduced a pre-Gateway 0 appraisal for initial high-level prioritisation. To support this process a Rapid Appraisal Tool for Economics (RATE) has been created which utilises MCM data and many approaches captured across the MCH chapters. Methods for calculating economic benefits – GOV.UK

Capping and write off

The capping of damages and the ‘writing off’ of a property have been removed from policies for English appraisal. This is replaced by the guidance frequently flooded properties and write‑off introduces a revised approach to estimating damages and benefits for properties at very high flood risk which assumes continued occupation of properties and behavioural adaptation. This change affects principally Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, but also situations whereby uplift factors based on property damages are utilised to estimate additional losses (e.g. Local Authority costs in Chapter 6). This change in policy is for England. Appraisers in other countries are recommended to refer to local guidance as the policy for capping and write off may remain. Frequently flooded properties and write-off in FCERM appraisal – GOV.UK

Update of the Green Book

2026 has also seen the publication of a new HM Treasury Green Book. Changes where necessary have been made to the chapters to reflect this.

Chapter 6

As usual many values have been updated to reflect current estimates, however, users’ attention is particularly drawn to the separation in values between England and Wales for the compensation for water supply to be disconnected. Further changes related to willingness-to-pay to avoid disruption to electricity are anticipated.

Chapter 9

In England the approach to valuing agricultural land and output has very recently changed. It has not been possible to fully integrate all of these changes into the text of the handbook prior to this publication (MCH 2026 version 1). However, the three scenarios presented in the guidance are comparable to those presented in Chapter 9. It is anticipated that a further update to this chapter may be necessary. FCERM guidance for RMAs: valuation of agricultural land and output for appraisal purposes – GOV.UK

Chapter 10

This chapter concerning the environmental benefits and costs has been removed from this version of the MCH. Please refer to the section “Environment and ecosystems benefit” at Environment Agency 2026 Flood and coastal erosion risk management appraisal guidance manual – 10. Identify, quantify and value impacts – Guidance – GOV.UK

Additional resources:

A series of tasters, including a local benefits/financial version of Handbook Chapter 5: Non-Residential Properties
An example for calculating average annual damages to agriculture
A guidance document on identifying and calculating National Receptor Dataset (NRD) code “9” properties in benefit appraisals
An Ex-Post Evaluation of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management projects
Archive of Project Appraisal Reports from the Environment Agency
A comprehensive bibliography of studies relating to flood and coastal erosion risk management
We provide the MCM data in flat file format (.csv) and as Excel spreadsheets (.xlsx). We believe that the former will help to link the MCM data more easily and efficiently into project appraisal software. They are available in the Chapter 4 and 5 sections of the website under additional resources

The Handbook aims to provide users with:

Easy access to the techniques and information needed to undertake evaluations of the benefits for most straightforward risk management projects (probably 75% to 85% of all cases)
A greater opportunity to align the scale of the appraisal effort with the scale and scope of the decisions required
Techniques that fully support sustainable development principles

Importantly, the Handbook provides approaches to implement the policies set out in the HM Treasury ‘Green Book’ and complements the Flood and Coastal Erosion Management Appraisal Guidance (FCERM-AG), first published by the Environment Agency in September 2021. The MCM website also includes a local benefits/financial version of the Handbook to support the implementation of the Partnership Funding approach.

‘The Handbook’ as an online resource

Taking user feedback on-board, the Multi-Coloured Handbook is now available online and replaces the printed 2010 publication. The advantages of having the handbook as an online resource are:

Users can access the information from any computer, tablet or smart phone using their unique log in details once registered
Users can navigate directly to the relevant chapter and data without having to scroll through the whole document
The option to download the full PDF document and all the data (.pdf, .xlxs and .csv) as required
Users will have access to the latest data

The Handbook and the Manual

The Handbook is intended to be a straight-forward and up-to-date resource which will allow the user to carry out economic appraisal with minimum effort for the majority of flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes to be assessed. However, assessments are not always straightforward and therefore the Handbook is complemented by a much more extensive Manual, ‘Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management – A Manual for Economic Appraisal’, otherwise referred to as ‘The Multi-Coloured Manual’. This 2013 Manual replaced the 2005 version and provided more detail on the methodologies implemented in the Handbook. NB: Metholodologies in the Handbook are updated as new information becomes available and so may supersede those in the 2013 Manual.