Water companies should pay more compensation to people who are victims of sewer flooding, MPs have reported.

The Commons public accounts committee said on Thursday that the current system of payments was "wholly inadequate".

And regulator Ofwat should encourage water companies to increase their voluntary payments, they added.

The MPs said that the consequences of sewers breaking can be "very damaging, especially when homes are flooded internally with sewage".

There were 6,000 such incidents in 2002/03, said the report, noting that this represents a small proportion of properties connected to the sewer network.

"Compensation arrangements are currently inadequate," the committee concluded.

"At present, the victims are guaranteed only a refund of their sewerage charges for the year, and are left to bear the cost of cleaning, repair and redecoration themselves.

"Consumers can cover these costs under household insurance, but some have been unable to obtain insurance through poverty or because of repeated flooding."

The report also said that ministers should extend statutory compensation arrangements so that all consumers contribute through their sewerage charges to the compensation costs for victims of sewer flooding.

"This might only concern a small proportion of the properties connected to the network but that's no consolation if you suffer the distress and inconvenience of your home being flooded with raw sewage," said committee chairman Edward Leigh.