Home Insurance claim

[Ula NI]

Hi there, some advice please.
We recently went through our home insurance for water damage.
A local building company gave the quote for repairs, loss adjuster came out etc.
So the insurance company have given us a cheque for the repairs (less the VAT), the £ is sitting in the bank, we have not been able to get any work done yet for family reasons/situation.
The insurance company have been on the phone to us asking for the VAT invoice to be submitted, i told them we have not done the work as yet.
My question is, if we don't go ahead with repairs at the minute, can we keep the money and not submit the VAT invoice to the insurance company or will they insist on this?
Can we tell the insurance company that we will not be claiming the VAT and leave it at that?

 

[^woody^]

They will require an invoice, whether from a VAT registered firm or not (unless you are contractually obligated to use a VAT registered firm. If it's not a bone-fide invoice, they will ask for the money back. It's got nothing to do with you claiming the VAT!