Thames to auto-enrol Londoners for financial help under pioneering scheme

Thames has launched a first-of-its kind scheme to automatically enrol customers in financial difficulty onto its social tariff schemes.

Under a new partnership with 17 London Borough Councils and data analytics company Policy in Practice, Thames will remove barriers to accessing help linked to awareness and application.

Using data held by participating councils and the Department of Work and Pensions, the partners will:

• Identify customers whose water bills exceed 5% of their equivalised net income and enrol them automatically into its WaterHelp scheme, under which bills are cut by 50%.

• Identify other customers who should be on its WaterSure social tariff, or who are eligible for Extra Support Scheme assistance of up to £700.

In all, the company is expecting to provide more than £10m in financial assistance to an estimated 33,000 households under the three schemes. Most identified through auto-enrolment are expected to qualify for WaterHelp.

The expansion of the automatic enrolment scheme to a further 15 councils follows a pilot earlier this year in Wandsworth and Richmond Upon Thames. More than 1,800 households received a total of £650,000 in financial support.

Across its region, Thames Water supported more than 400,000 households with its social tariff and provided £116m-worth of customer assistance worth £116m in 2024/25.