Compulsory water meters and blocking takeovers - key recommendations from landmark report into 'broken' water industry
The report, which includes 88 recommendations, suggests a new single integrated regulator to replace existing water watchdogs, mandatory water metering, and a social tariff for vulnerable customers.
The ability to block companies being taken over and the creation of eight new regional water authorities, with another for all of Wales to deliver local priorities, has also been suggested.
The review, the largest into the water industry since privatisation in the 1980s, was undertaken by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a career civil servant and former deputy governor of the Bank of England who oversaw the biggest clean-up of Britain's banking system in the wake of the financial crash.
He was coaxed out of retirement by Environment Secretary Steve Reed to lead the Independent Water Commission.
Final recommendations of the commission have been published on Monday morning to clean up the sector and improve public confidence, as bills rise 36% over the next five years. Here are its nine key recommendations:
• Single integrated water regulators - a single water regulator in England and a single water regulator in Wales. In England, this would replace Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and water-environment related functions from the Environment Agency and Natural England. In Wales, Ofwat's economic responsibilities would be integrated into Natural Resources Wales.
It's hoped this will solve the "fragmented and overlapping" regulation, and more stable regulation will improve investor confidence. Communications regulator Ofcom was given as an example of how combining five existing regulators into one worked.
• Eight new regional water system planning authorities in England and one national authority in Wales to be responsible for water investment plans reflecting local priorities and streamlining the planning processes.
The new authorities would be independent, made up of representatives from local councils, public health officials, environmental advocates, agricultural voices and consumers. The aim is they could direct funding and ensure accountability from all sectors impacting water.
• Greater consumer protection - this includes upgrading the consumer body Consumer Council for Water, into an Ombudsman for Water to give stronger protection to customers and a clearer route to resolving complaints. Advocacy duties are to be transferred to Citizens Advice.
• Stronger environmental regulation, including compulsory water meters. Also proposed by Sir Jon are changes to wholesale tariffs for industrial users and greater water reuse and rainwater harvesting schemes. A new long-term, legally binding target for the water environment was suggested.
• Oversight of companies via the ability to block changes in ownership of water businesses when they are not seen to be prioritising the long-term interests of the company and its customers, and the addition of "public benefit" clauses in water company licences.
To boost company financial resilience, as the UK's biggest provider, Thames Water struggles to remain in private ownership, the commission has recommended minimum financial requirements, like banks are subject to. This could mean utilities hold a certain amount of cash. It's hoped this will, in turn, make companies more appealing to potential investors.
• The public health element of water has been recognised, and senior public health representation has been recommended for regional water planning authorities, as have new laws to address pollutants like forever chemicals and microplastics.
• Fundamental reset of economic regulation - including changes to ensure companies are investing in and maintaining assets to help attract long-term, low-risk investment. A "supervisory" approach has been recommended to intervene before things like pollution occur, rather than penalising the businesses after the event.
• Clear strategic direction - a long-term, 25-year national water strategy should be published by the UK and Welsh governments, with ministerial priorities given to water firms every five years.
• Infrastructure and asset health reforms - companies should also be required to map and assess their assets and resilience.
Nationalisation of the water industry was not in the Independent Water Commission's terms of reference and so was not considered.
How has the report been received?
In a speech responding to Sir Jon's report, Mr Reed is set to describe the water industry as "broken" and welcome the commission's recommendations to ensure "the failures of the past can never happen again".
The water industry lobby group Water UK said "fundamental change has been long overdue".
"These recommendations should establish the foundations to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas," a spokesperson said.
"The Independent Water Commission has written a comprehensive, detailed review of the whole sector, with many wide-ranging and ambitious recommendations.
"Crucially, it is now up to government to decide which recommendations it will adopt, and in what way, but the commission's work marks a significant step forward."
Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage said the report "utterly fails to prioritise public benefit over private profit".
"This is not transformational reform, this is putting lipstick on a pig - and you can bet the champagne is flowing in water company boardrooms across the land," said its chief executive, Giles Bristow.
"Only one path forward remains: a full, systemic transformation that ends the ruthless pursuit of profit and puts the public good at the heart of our water services," he said.
"We welcome Sir Jon's calls for a national strategy, enshrining public health objectives in law and regional water planning. But we won't be taken for fools - abolishing Ofwat and replacing it with a shinier regulator won't stop sewage dumping or profiteering if the finance and ownership structures stay the same."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
Civil service interns must all be working class, government says
The government will restrict civil service internships to students from poorer families as part of a drive from ministers to make Whitehall more working main internship scheme designed to attract university students to the civil service will now only be available for students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds", judged by what jobs their parents did when they were who are successful on the internship will then be prioritised for entry to the Fast Stream, the main graduate programme for entry to the civil change has been driven by Pat McFadden, who as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible for civil service reform. He told the BBC: "We need to get more working class young people into the Civil Service so it harnesses the broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country. "Government makes better decisions when it represents and understands the people we serve."Currently around a quarter of higher education students are from a lower socio-economic background, but the group represented only 12% of successful applicants to the Fast Stream in Labour ministers have come to believe in their first year in office that parts of the civil service are too privileged, with people who have come from similar backgrounds.A summer internship programme already exists. The programme is for undergraduates in their final two years of university, lasts six to eight weeks and is the changes, which will take effect for the summer of 2026, the intake will be restricted only to students from poorer programme will give them experience including planning events, writing briefings for ministers, shadowing senior civil servants and carrying out research for policy deemed to have performed well will then be fast-tracked to the final stages of the Fast Stream selection process if they decide to apply to work in the civil service after government is also trying to establish more career paths into the senior ranks of the civil service outside of London, announcing earlier this year that by 2030 half of the placements on the Fast Stream will be located outside of the Labour government has been strikingly critical of some of the practices of the civil service since coming to office in July last year. In December, Sir Keir Starmer said that "too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline," incurring criticism from civil service prime minister has also said he wants to "rewire" the way the state works. Conservative shadow cabinet office minister Mike Wood said the UK's public services "deserve talent chosen on ability". In a statement Wood said: "We believe in opportunity based on what you can do, not where you come from."We all want to see greater opportunity for working-class young people. But this scheme sends the message that unless you fit a particular social profile, you're no longer welcome."No young person should be told they're not welcome based solely on leftist social engineering."
BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
Tech giants blocking some Ukraine and Gaza posts under new online rules
Social media companies are blocking wide-ranging content - including posts about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza - in an attempt to comply with the UK's new Online Safety Act, BBC Verify has new legislation, which came into effect last Friday, imposes fines on social media companies and other websites which fail to protect under-18s from pornography, posts promoting self-harm, and other harmful content. In serious cases, services could be blocked in the BBC Verify found a range of public interest content, including parliamentary debates on grooming gangs, has been restricted on X and Reddit for those who have not completed age verification warn companies are risking stifling legitimate public debate by overapplying the law. Sandra Wachter, a professor of technology and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute, expressed alarm at the restrictions and told BBC Verify that the new bill was "not supposed to be used to suppress facts of public interest, even if uncomfortable".Organisations can be fined up to £18m or 10% of their global revenue if they are found to have failed to stop harmful content appearing on their platforms. Under the act harmful content includes posts containing pornography, or any which encourage self-harm, eating disorders or promote Sonia Livingstone - an expert in children's digital rights at the London School of Economics - said that companies might "get better over time at not blocking public interest content while also protecting children" as the law beds in over the restricted content identified by BBC Verify was a video post on X which showed a man in Gaza looking for the dead bodies of his family buried among the rubble of destroyed buildings. The post was restricted despite not showing any graphic imagery or bodies at any point in the clip. X subsequently removed the warning after being approached by BBC users who had not verified their age attempted to access the post they were met with a message reading: "Due to local laws, we are temporarily restricting access to this content until X estimates your age." The same warning was experienced by users who attempted to view a video of a Shahed drone destroyed mid-flight in Ukraine. The Iranian-made drones, which are widely used by Russia in the full-scale invasion, are unmanned and nobody was injured or killed in the has introduced similar restrictions. The platform, which hosts countless communities which discuss major news events, now requires age checks for some groups when users try to access them via search the Reddit communities which have been restricted is one called R/UkraineConflict, a message board with 48,000 members that frequently posts footage of the war. Similar restrictions, which urge users to "log in to confirm your age", have been imposed on several pages which discuss the Israel-Gaza war and communities which focus on clips of parliamentary debates have also been swept up in the restrictions. A speech by Conservative MP Katie Lam, containing a graphic description of the rape of a minor by a grooming gang, is available to view without restriction on Parliament's official streaming website, ParliamentLive, but is restricted on who was elected in 2024, wrote on social media: "The British state won't protect children from mass gang rape. But it will 'protect' adults from hearing about it." Another post restricted on X shared an image of Francisco de Goya's 19th-century painting entitled Saturn Devouring His Son. The striking work depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus - known as Saturn by the Romans - eating one of his children in fear of a prophesy that one would overthrow him and has been described as depicting "utter male fury".The examples gathered by BBC Verify are largely focussed on X and Reddit, as they clearly flag age-restricted content. Meta has a different system whereby 'teen' profiles are a different type of account with parental control - making it harder for us to identify which content is is unclear exactly how many posts commenting on debates of public interest are being restricted. X and Reddit did not respond to a request for Prof Livingstone noted that it was "possible that the companies are over-blocking to undermine the Act".X owner Elon Musk has been highly critical of the Online Safety Act. The billionaire has launched a stream of attacks against the legislation online and X suggested that it could dissuade companies from launching products in the UK."[The law's] purpose is suppression of the people," Musk wrote on X on Monday, before sharing several posts by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson which also opposed the suggests that the legislation could heavily impact adults in the UK. Large proportions of users - up to 37% on X and 59% on Reddit - access these platforms whilst logged out, according to data from the platforms. This means those users won't be age-verified and will experience the internet in the same way as Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) emphasised to BBC Verify that it was up to social media platforms themselves to decide how to implement the requirements of the act, but insisted that the risk-based approach must not "censor political debate".What the Online Safety Act is - and how to keep children safe onlineWhich sites will require age verification under new law?Ofcom investigates 34 porn sites over age checksOfcom, the UK media regulator tasked with enforcing the act, has warned that firms could face fines not only for failing to protect children, but also for breaching freedom of speech under the Verify's analysis also suggested that the legislation had succeeded in blocking some harmful material online. Since Musk bought X, previously called Twitter, the platform has earned a reputation for being flooded with pornographic material, as well violent, antisemitic and racist we found that violent and pornographic content was significantly restricted when using an account without age new obligations effectively puts firms in a position where they must comply with the law. Prof Livingstone suggested that they could still be in a period of "working out how best" to make judgements over the sort of content on their sites, which could be refined over Prof Wachter said that the level of self-regulation afforded to tech companies in choosing how to comply with the Online Safety Act called for well-staffed moderation teams equipped with "time, resources, expertise and nuance" to effectively make also noted that many major social media companies, such as X and Meta, have slimmed down their moderation teams in recent years or dissolved them completely."This trend is very worrying when opaque rules are now applied to make these take down decisions, especially in the current political climate," Prof Wachter said. What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Jess Glynne feels ‘sick' over use of Jet2 song to promote US deportations
It is the internet meme of the summer, sparking laughter and thousands of wry smiles at the pitfalls of a British summer holiday. But the journey of the viral Jet2 holiday advert – with its promotional voiceover played out over cheerless summer holiday footage, including water-slide disasters and images of pouring rain – took a darker turn this week when it was used by the White House in a post on X to promote Ice (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deportations. Jess Glynne – whose 2015 single Hold My Hand accompanies the advert – responded to the post on Wednesday, saying she felt 'sick' that her music was being used to spread 'division and hate'. She told the Guardian on Thursday: 'I'm devastated to see my song used in this way. Hold My Hand was written about love, support, and standing by someone through everything – it's meant to offer hope and empowerment. Using it to promote something I fundamentally disagree with goes completely against the message of the song.' On Thursday afternoon Jet2 also condemned the post, saying it was 'disappointed to see our brand being used to promote government policy such as this'. The official White House account posted a clip on X on Wednesday evening showing people wearing handcuffs and being taken out of cars and on to planes, captioned: 'When Ice books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. Nothing beats it!' When ICE books you a one-way Jet2 holiday to deportation. ✈️🎶 Nothing beats it! In the six months since Donald Trump took office, the US president has supercharged the country's immigration enforcement, overseeing a sweeping mass arrest and incarceration scheme, which resulted in a record number of arrests by immigration officers in June, according to Guardian analysis. The post delighted Trump supporters but was decried as disgusting, embarrassing and unchristian by critics. Glynne, who has previously joined in with the fun spirit of the Jet2 holidays meme by posting a TikTok video miming the voiceover, expressed her disapproval of the White House's appropriation of the trend on Instagram. 'This post honestly makes me sick,' she wrote. 'My music is about love, unity and spreading positivity – never about division or hate.' Jet2 had previously appeared to welcome the extra publicity generated by the meme, launching a challenge that offered a £1,000 holiday voucher as a prize. A spokesperson said the company welcomed the 'good humour' of the viral phenomenon, but not the White House's contribution. 'We are of course aware of a post from the White House social media account,' they said. 'This is not endorsed by us in any way, and we are very disappointed to see our brand being used to promote government policy such as this.' The advert's voiceover actor, Zoë Lister, said she would never condone her voiceover 'being used in promotion with Trump and his abhorrent policies'. She told the BBC: 'The Jet2 meme has spread a lot of joy and humour around the world, but the White House video shows that Trump has neither.' The White House Ice deportation post is the latest example of an unorthodox digital communications strategy that has veered away from previous administrations' traditional – and relatively sedate – use of social media platforms. In February, the White House used X to promote Trump's congestion pricing policy, posting a fake Time magazine front cover portraying the president as a monarch, along with the phrase: 'CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!' The post was described as 'revoltingly un-American' by Adam Keiper, the executive editor of the conservative Bulwark news site, while New York state's Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said: 'New York hasn't laboured under a king in over 250 years and we sure as hell are not going to start now.' The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. The administration also faced criticism after Trump shared an AI-generated video that showed him in a transformed, glittering Gaza, topless and sipping a cocktail with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. After criticism, the administration recently posted on X: 'Nowhere in the constitution does it say we can't post banger memes.' Last month the Trump administration appeared to be on track to oversee one of the deadliest years for immigrant detention after the deaths of two men – one from Cuba and another from Canada – while in federal custody. Human rights experts have raised concerns about the detention of children with their parents at the newly recommissioned 'family detention centres' in Texas, and while Trump has repeatedly claimed his administration is trying to arrest and deport 'dangerous criminals', analysis shows that most of the people Ice is now arresting have never been convicted of a crime.
