Making water affordable for everyone Steps we’re taking to end water poverty As providers of an essential public service, we need to ensure it’s available to every household in our region – and we’ve designed support schemes to help. Although our water and waste-water bills are among the lowest in the UK, some of our customers struggle to pay their bills. Working with others in our sector, we want to end water poverty by 2030 – which means no customer will have a water bill that’s more than 5% of their disposable income. Currently, research shows that around 9% of our customers in the Severn Trent region find bills unaffordable. For 2020/21, we aimed to support 150,000 customers (34% of those struggling to pay) and succeeded in helping 153,825. We aim to increase this to 42% from 2021/22. We’ll do this through a variety of schemes. Severn Trent Trust Fund Each year, we donate £3.5 million to the Severn Trent Trust Fund, an independent local charity that administers grants to support those in financial difficulty. Since it began in 1997, it has helped households with water grants, financial and budgeting advice and, in exceptional circumstances, buying essentials such as beds and kitchen appliances. This year, the charity provided just under 4,000 grants to help people in arrears with their water bills. Covid response With many more customers facing financial difficulty due to the pandemic, we’ve simplified our processes to make it easier to get onto our support schemes – for example, offering auto-enrolling rather than the usual application procedure. We also launched our Back-on-Track scheme, offering a 50% discount to customers who’ve suffered financial hardship due to the impact of COVID-19. In addition, we worked with Leicester City Council to help provide financial assistance through the Government’s Covid Winter Support Fund. Widening our support further By 2025, we aim to support 195,000 customers financially each year. This will mean widening our commitment to include those supported through payment plan concessions (‘PPCs’), the Severn Trent Trust Fund and other schemes. As we don’t have direct access to information on customers’ incomes or personal circumstances, we’re working with charities to help identify those most in need – and to provide general debt advice, as well as help alleviate water poverty. We’re also talking to other water companies, to ensure we align the criteria behind our social tariffs. These differ around the UK – we want to keep them focused on the customers in greatest need of support. customers currently supported with our social tariff, ‘The Big Difference Scheme’ is the year by which we want to end water poverty by working with others in our sector Severn Trent Trust Fund Here’s how our Trust Fund works. Miss S suffers from long-term mental health issues, which deteriorated last year. As a result her ex-partner and father of her three children took over their care. Her income reduced drastically and she had to apply for Universal Credit. In late 2020, her partner took his own life. Fortunately, Miss S is now receiving the health support and guidance she needs. For her water, the Severn Trent Trust Fund has cleared her arrears and we have put her forward for The Big Difference Scheme for future support. BACK-ON-TRACK scheme, offering a 50% discount to customers who’ve suffered financial hardship due to the impact of COVID-19 The Big Difference Scheme Our social tariff, The Big Difference Scheme, offers customers a reduction in their bill, anything from a 10% reduction up to 90% of our average charge. We’re currently supporting more than 67,000 customers in this way. We’ve recently reviewed the eligibility criteria, and now assess customers on their household income rather than their disposable income. Our ambition is to help those with the lowest incomes, who are struggling the most. Our Through Care scheme We’re working closely with local authorities to help provide financial support to young adults leaving the care system. By offering a fast-track route onto The Big Difference Scheme, we’re helping care leavers as they adjust to independent living. We launched this initiative with the Through Care team at Coventry City Council, becoming the first utility company to join forces with a local authority to provide this type of support. Eventually, we aim to expand the scheme to include education and employment opportunities through work experience and apprenticeships. looking after our vulnerable customers looking after our vulnerable customers looking after our vulnerable customers looking after our vulnerable customers looking after our vulnerable customers Supporting the region Standing by our vulnerable customers Read more online 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 +