Firms to speed up complaint handling following CCW challenge

Most water companies have responded to CCW’s challenge to speed up complaint handling times by committing to beat the existing standard of ten working days.

CCW extended special praise to Northumbrian Water (two days) and Yorkshire Water (seven days) for being “ahead of the field” in having already introduced targets that beat the existing industry standard.

Ten further companies have also taken action. Portsmouth Water and Wessex Water both rolled out a target of five working days this month, with the other companies involved being South West/Bournemouth Water, Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, United Utilities, Severn Trent, South Staffs and Cambridge Water and Bristol Water.

CCW reported the majority of the companies plan to reduce their target to five working days from April 2021.

Speeding up response times was one of a series of recommendations tabled in a joint report published by CCW and Ofwat in November 2020. The report – which examined customers’ satisfaction with complaint handing – also challenged the industry to make more effective use of data, share best practice and develop a better understanding of what vulnerable customers need.

Water companies have until the end of March 2021 to produce action plans setting out how they will address each of the recommendations in the report.