Company Monitoring Framework on hold as Ofwat evolves performance monitoring

Ofwat has said it will not publish further Company Monitoring Framework assessments because it is evolving its approach to performance monitoring.

In an information notice (IN 19/04), Ofwat explained it plans to assess companies’ performance in the round, including financial and operational performance, company governance and culture. It said: “This will be an important element of our new strategy. We will continue to develop the framework for monitoring and assessing company performance through the launch of our new strategy in the autumn and beyond.”

In the meantime, it will not publish further CMF assessments – a framework introduced in 2015 to encourage companies to conduct high quality assurance of the information that they produce. However, the regulator explained it would continue to scrutinise companies’ approaches to data quality and assurance of their performance reporting “using a suite of tools including company spot checks, deep dives and requiring companies to address inaccuracies and gaps”. It recapped its minimum requirements in the note.