End water poverty

1 in 5 people in England and Wales struggle to pay their water bill.

Millions of households are unable to afford their water bill but many of these do not receive the help they need.

We will continue to work with water companies towards their commitment to make bills affordable as a minimum for all households and develop a strategy to end water poverty. We will seek to end the postcode lottery of existing financial support by working with all stakeholders to provide greater certainty around existing financial help through the creation of a comprehensive fair and consistent support scheme across England and Wales.

We also want a price review that doesn’t present a choice between affordable bills and investment. We will be requiring companies to take account of affordability in their business plans and, if they fail to, we will be writing to company Boards.