Ofwat highlights the good and bad in governance

Ofwat has reported examples of good practice in governance and instances where there was scope to improve against the objectives of its Board Leadership,Transparency and Governance principles,

Ofwat's assessment of how water companies were meeting those objectives, found that all companies had clearly stated their purpose and articulated the importance of this in delivering an essential public service.

But it found also that companies generally could be clearer about how their dividend policies were applied in practice when making decisions on declaring dividends. And while all companies acknowledged the issue of diversity at board level, the degree of recognition varied across companies according to the regulator.

The assessment was based on company annual reporting in 2019/20.