Citizens Advice responds to to the passing of the Water (Special Measures) Bill

Responding to the passing of the Water (Special Measures) Bill, Tom MacInnes, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice, said:

“We’re glad to see the government setting out to fix the water industry’s dysfunctional approach to bill support.“Though the sector needs investment for growth, people on low incomes must be shielded from the impact of sharp price hikes. Water poverty is set to almost double among Citizens Advice debt clients, unless extra support gets to the people who need it. “We look forward to working with the government to ensure there is a standardised safety net, with auto-enrolment for low-income households. This change can’t come soon enough.”

Additional data

The following data was submitted to the EFRA committee hearing, 21 January 2025:

  • The water bill rises planned for 2025-30 will see water poverty* among Citizens Advice debt clients almost double (95% increase), if there is no increase in social tariff provision.

  • Four out of the ten water catchment areas would see water poverty among our debt clients more than double. In one, water poverty would increase by as much as 168%. 

  • For some suppliers, we project an almost 15% increase in negative budgets - when outgoings exceed income - among our debt clients, as a result of their water bill going up.

*Water poverty here is defined as spending more than 5% of disposable income on a water bill, as per CCW guidance.

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Notes to editors:

  1. Citizens Advice is made up of the national charity Citizens Advice; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.

  2. Our network of charities offers impartial advice online, over the phone, and in person, for free. 

  3. Citizens Advice helped 2.68 million people face to face, over the phone, by email and webchat in 2023-24. And we had 51.7 million visits to our website. For full service statistics see our monthly publication Advice trends.

  4. Citizens Advice service staff are supported by more than 19,000 trained volunteers, working at over 1,900 service outlets across England and Wales.

  5. Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and postal markets. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers. 

  6. You can get consumer advice from the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 for Welsh language speakers.