People and skills

Environment Agency strikes called off at 11th hour

Thames Water to cut up to 300 jobs

Thames Water is preparing to axe up to 300 jobs. The staff affected will be from the retail and digital teams. It follows weeks of pay negotiations with trade unions including GMB, which described the planned redundancies as "abhorrent".

Chris Whitty says sewerage legislation overlooks health

England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty has called out MPs for overlooking human health issues when drafting legislation relating to sewerage. Whitty called for a refocus on health within wastewater legislation, which is currently framed around environmental targets.

Everflow management acquires majority stake

Strikes loom at Thames and Scottish Water

Industrial action is on the horizon at both Scottish Water and Thames Water following disputes about pay. Workers at Scottish have already voted overwhelmingly to strike, while Thames workers are due to vote on a final pay offer negotiated with union bosses. GMB – which represents workers at both water companies – said that it doesn't think a better deal can be achieved through further negotiations with Thames Water, and a union spokesperson added that strike action is likely to follow if members vote against the deal.

Thames ring-fences extra £500k for vulnerability support

Thames is dedicating £500k through its Trust Fund initiative to support financially vulnerable households in London and the Thames Valley. This includes £400k in grants to debt and money advice services across the region and £100k to a household pot that customer service employees can direct billpayers to.

New Ofgem chair: Low morale fuelling high turnover

PR24: SVT’s past performance key to AMP8

Severn Trent has set out its intention to remain an industry leader across performance commitments in the next asset management period (AMP8) as the cornerstone to its ambitious plan.

Ofwat sets out details of customer service licence condition

PR24: CCW calls for bigger water efficiency fund

The new trilemma posed by PR24

Water-only complaints jump 66% after extreme weather

The number of complaints about water-only companies rose 66% year-on-year following supply interruptions during extreme weather. Although billing disputes dominated the causes of grievances, water watchdog CCW said environmental factors such as the hot, dry summer and freeze-thaw in 2022 triggered an influx of customer complaints when water supplies were affected. South East was named as the most complained about water-only company with disputes related to the freeze thaw, and how subsequent compensation claims were dealt, leading to a surge in customer contacts. 

PR24: SES to ‘fall short’ on net zero

Severn Trent first to reveal PR24 plan

In the first signal of how water companies are approaching investment plans for 2025-2030, Severn Trent has indicated it expects totex to more than double compared to the first half of the decade. The company gave a summary of its plans as it announced it is seeking £1 billion equity to fund a programme of river improvements, resilience and service. It has also revealed indicative views on bill rises and key performance commitments.

Water companies owe billpayers £236 million for underperformance