Southern Water - Stakeholders

Engagement with
stakeholders

What matters to our stakeholders

Customers and communities

We constantly seek feedback on what our customers think about our services – both domestic and wholesale – so we can be sure that we are addressing the issues that matter to them. Our aim is to provide a seamless service that they value. We want to work with our customers and communities so we can meet their short and longterm expectations and collaborate on solutions that benefit them.

Three material issues:

Public health and compliance (environmental stewardship)
Customer service and support
Local economic impact

Environment

Central to our purpose is the need to protect and improve our natural environment. We depend on it and so it is vital that we work collaboratively with our environmental regulators, non-governmental organisations, campaigners and local communities to find quick solutions to environmental issues, such as climate change, pollution and land management.

Three material issues:

Water resources and leakage
Sewer flooding and storm overflows
Climate change

Our people and partners

Our people are Southern Water, whether colleagues or partners, and we simply could not deliver our services without them. Most of them live in the South East and are also our customers, so we celebrate their diverse range of views and experience and use it to inform our decision making.

Three material issues:

Health, safety, security and wellbeing
Trust, transparency and legitimacy
Local economy

Regulators

Through engagement with our economic, quality and environmental regulators, we agree commitments over specified time periods alongside requirements they have of us in terms of our plans and performance. In some cases, there are financial rewards and penalties attached to these commitments. We seek to influence policy and regulatory frameworks when we can to make sure they support us delivering the best outcomes for our customers and the environment.

Three material issues:

Business performance
Financial resilience and risk management
Political and public opinion

Investors

It is important that our investors have confidence in the company and how it is managed, so we provide regular updates on our performance and progress. This also includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) updates alongside financial and performance data.

Three material issues:

Business performance
Financial resilience and risk management
Corporate governance and ESG-related matters

How we have engaged throughout the year

Independent Customer Group (ICG)

Our challenge community – to help drive customer first improvements includes:

Our Customer and Communities Challenge Group. There to provide expertise and challenge on our proposed business plans, the group is made up of customer leaders, such as those that help vulnerable audiences, businesses and lower income households.

Customers from our panels. These customers become informed through continuous engagement and scrutiny of our plans. We then run engagement sessions that include these informed customers and our executive and leadership teams. This then provides open challenge directly to decision makers and helps put the customer at the centre of what we do.

The Independent Climate and Environment Group. There to provide specialist and technical challenge and advice on our environmental performance and strategy (see ICEG commentary below).

This is underpinned by our external quality and assurance programme, which provides insight to colleagues from across the business so they can focus on improving our delivery and performance.

Stakeholders involved: Customer leaders, informed customers, Southern Water leaders and colleagues, and see ICEG below.

Link to risk: Water; wastewater; customer; climate change; and people.

Independent Climate and Environment Group (ICEG)

Outcome of engagement To help build greater confidence in our commitment to the environment, we created the ICEG, with an independent Chair. The group has provided independent advice and challenge on our Drainage and Wastewater Management Plans, our Water Resource Management Plans and our Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force Pathfinder projects this year. They are also helping to shape our longterm environmental ambition and what we need to deliver as part of our business plan for 2025–30 to reach our goals.

Stakeholders involved Martin Hurst (Chair) is also Chair of the Southern Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and is a former environment advisor in Number 10 and water director in Defra. Members include Rivers Trusts, Wildlife Trusts, RSPB, Environment Agency, Natural England, NFE, Consumer Council for Water, Waterwise, Local Flood Authorities and Universities.

Link to risk: Water; wastewater; and climate change.

The Living Coast (UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Brighton and Lewes Downs)

Outcome of engagement: A designated urban biosphere reserve, The Living Coast stretches between Newhaven and Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex. From the South Downs, through city streets and out to sea, it embraces everyone and everything that lives within this area and makes life here possible. UNESCO biospheres are areas with significant natural value, created to help us learn how to balance what people and nature need to flourish. Our interest focuses on the water aspects of the biosphere, including water efficiency and water quality and we collaborate to create opportunities for customer behaviour change and environmental enhancements.

Stakeholders involved: Brighton and Hove City Council, Lewes District Council, Adur and Worthing Councils. Local Health Trusts, Brighton and Hove Bus Company, University of Brighton, University of Sussex, and South Downs National Park.

Link to risk: Water; wastewater; and climate change.

Blean Primary School, Canterbury, Kent

Outcome of engagement In February 2023, we received letters from Blean Primary School’s year five Eco Club members. They wanted to challenge us on ‘a most serious matter concerning the actions you have committed towards the oceans surrounding Kent’. We approached the Eco Club leader and asked if we could visit the school to explain how combined sewers work and why storm overflows exist. We also wanted to tell them what we were doing to reduce the number of storm overflow releases. Our Education Officer, Joanne Wood and Nicole McNab, from our Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force, were invited to speak to the school and staff, and explain the impact of heavy rain on the sewer network, and how the task force is working on nature-based solutions to ‘slow the flow’ of water into the sewers. After the talk, the Eco Club leader fed back that it was ‘very useful to hear the reasons behind the overflows’.

Stakeholders involved: 260+ school children and 20 staff from Blean Primary School, Canterbury, Kent.

Link to risk: Wastewater.

Citizen Science in Sandown

Outcome of engagement: To conduct independent water quality testing with the aim of providing real-time data that will help people to make an informed decision about swimming in the sea. This data will either be published on our own website or shared with the organisations taking part in the trial.

The samples are taken by volunteers from Swim the Wight and the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary who wade out daily to a pre-determined point in Sandown Bay and return with a sample ready to calibrate in a water quality monitoring device (which is used by the Environment Agency). The ‘Fluidion’ device was pioneered in Paris to test the water quality of the River Seine prior to the Olympics in 2024.

Stakeholders involved: Swim the Wight (a Sandown-based social enterprise who aim to improve lives with ‘vitamin sea’) and the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary (who are based on the seafront).

Link to risk: Wastewater; and climate change.

Three Harbours Technical Working Group

Outcome of engagement: To bring together partners around Chichester, Langstone and Pagham Harbours to collaborate and co-deliver solutions to improve water quality and restore nature at scale. We have worked with them to develop our environmental programme for our Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) submission and our business plan for 2025–30 and are developing detailed plans to drive collected action. Read our harbours case study on page 67.

Stakeholders involved: The Environment Agency, Natural England, Chichester Harbour Conservancy, Langstone Harbour Board, local Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, Portsmouth Water, Hampshire County Council, West Sussex County Council, Chichester District Council, Solent Forum, Coastal Partners, the Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority, and the Royal Yachting Association.

Link to risk: Wastewater; water; and climate change.

Local Nature Partnerships – regionwide

Outcome of engagement: To build relationships, share best practice and drive forward nature’s recovery across the South East we have set up a series of local partnerships. Our business is reliant on a healthy and functioning natural environment and this means we need to be ready to react to emerging environmental regulations. Examples of projects under way include exploring nature-based solutions to reduce carbon and Sussex woodland opportunity mapping, both of which are informing our strategies and delivery plans.

Stakeholders involved: Local Authorities, environmental NGOs (including Wildlife Trusts, Rivers Trusts, Woodland Trust, RSPB and more), businesses (including other water companies), protected landscapes (national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Forestry Commission, Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities, the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association, and local landowners.

Link to risk: Wastewater; water; and climate change.

Water industry insight group

Outcome of engagement: To drive a much better understanding of what matters to our customers we have been sharing insight with our neighbouring water companies in the South East. This gives us a better understanding of the needs of our customers, and where there are differences and the drivers of them. It also means we have access to a greater breadth of insight so we can build from that existing knowledge base and that this insight is triangulated against other data sources. This means our understanding of customer needs is more robust and we can have greater confidence in any recommendations we make.

In October 2022 we spent the entire day in a session dedicated to sharing best practice and customer insight. The Consumer Council for Water and Ofwat also attended the session – bringing feedback they had collected from their research.

Stakeholders involved: South East Water, Thames Water, SES Water, Affinity Water, and Portsmouth Water.

Link to risk: Customer