CCW has called for renewed urgency in putting in place a new universal water affordability scheme to provide fair, consistent and sustainable financial help for the 1.5 million households across England and Wales living in water poverty.

The water sector’s consumer watchdog says efforts to end the postcode lottery of support for households struggling to afford their water bill must succeed amid growing pressure on customers’ finances.

It comes as CCW’s annual Water Matters report reveals a steep rise among the unemployed, students and disabled customers, who say their water bill is unaffordable.

Just over a third of bill payers who took part in the survey also said their finances had got worse during the past year, as the cost of living crisis continues to deepen and with the prospect of further inflation-busting energy bill rises looming this autumn.

CCW has been working with the water sector as part of its independent review of water affordability to bring immediate relief to struggling households through a raft of changes. These include making it easier for customers to access help and providing more flexible payment options.

However, CCW is continuing to campaign for the introduction of a new single social tariff scheme that would provide fair and consistent support for low-income households – and believes the changes cannot come quick enough. CCW said the universal scheme would replace the patchwork of individual water company social tariffs, which remain hampered by funding constraints and regional variations in eligibility criteria.

The news piece from WaterBriefing can be read here and the full CCW report can be found here.