Thames Water announces job cuts

Thames Water has revealed the potential loss of 350 roles across the company with a further 300 positions set to be removed through not filling vacancies and terminating contractor roles.

The company, which was this morning warned it would have to revise its investment plans for the 2020-2025 period, said the roles were primarily in support functions and management. It stressed that employees responsible for delivering services directly to customers would be largely unaffected.

A spokesman said: “Thames Water is focused on maximising every penny we spend on priorities including reducing leakage and customer complaints. To achieve that, we must be as efficient and productive as possible across our business. This includes having the right mix of people in the right jobs, in the right buildings and sites, focused on the right priorities.

“So, we are taking a range of measures to reduce our costs and become more efficient, including reducing non-essential projects and programmes. Today we informed our employees of the potential loss of around 350 roles. We will seek to minimise redundancies wherever possible, through redeployment and voluntary redundancy for affected groups and by agreement.

“We will also potentially be removing a further 300 roles, by not filling vacancies and through termination of contractor roles.

“This is clearly very difficult news for employees directly affected and we will do as much as we can to support them, including providing practical help to find new roles. We remain totally focused on managing our cost base. The money we spend belongs to our customers and investors – and we are committed delivering on our commitments to them and all of our stakeholders.”

Last week Thames Water revealed a 62% fall in pre-tax profits for the year to 31 March. Chief financial officer Brendon Rennet told Utility Week that the company had made great strides but accepted further improvements to its efficiency were needed.