Ofwat has published the findings of from its customer care review of how water and wastewater companies in England and Wales supported customers affected by sewer flooding in 2024-25.

In March 2025, the regulator asked wastewater companies to provide Ofwat with information about the care and support they provided to their customers who experienced sewer flooding incidents during the review period.

The request was limited to activities, including policies and approaches, they had in place within that period to manage sewer flooding. Ofwat also considered wider information available, including its own and CCW’s and CCW’s findings in its End Sewer Flooding Misery Campaign document.

The customer review sets out 10 outcomes Ofwat intends water and wastewater companies to achieve to improve customers experiences during sewer flooding incidents. The intended outcomes will inform Ofwat’s development of formal guidance to companies which will set out the customer care they must deliver in future.

In February 2024, Ofwat introduced a new condition into all companies’ licences, Condition G Principles for Customer Care (Condition G). Condition G requires companies to have in place and follow policies and approaches that meet six key principles for customer care, including:

• ensure their customers are well-informed and supported during and after incidents and this includes sewer flooding;
• be proactive in communications so that customers received the right information at the right time;
• demonstrate continual improvement to prevent foreseeable harm;
• provide appropriate support to customers including during and following incidents; and
• tailor their support for customers who need extra help.

Commenting on the responses to its request for information in March 2025, Ofwat says there was a wide variety in company responses in terms of quality and content of submissions, which reflects the variation in how companies respond to sewer flooding incidents.

Data – Companies define and record customer service data, for example on response times and repeat customers, during sewer flooding incidents differently. This made it difficult for Ofwat to understand in detail the level of service provided to customers who experience sewer flooding across the sector.

Communications – All companies have in place communications around sewer flooding on their websites, including contact details, logging an issue, and the causes and responsibilities around sewer flooding incidents. Whilst this an area companies have improved in recent years, Ofwat has concerns about how companies adapt and scale up their communications for large and / or complex incidents.

Customer support – There are examples of good and poor practices when it comes to supporting customers during sewer flooding incidents, with response times varying significantly across the sector, as does the handling of repeat incidents and case management.

Putting things right – In relation to executive oversight companies engage senior leaders in the performance and management of sewer flooding, but this often focuses on the operational activities with little evidence of senior leaders considering the customer impact. In addition, in relation to learning and improving, there was little evidence of companies using customer experience and insight to inform future business practices and deliver improved outcomes for customers.

Next steps

The regulator expects the companies to make improvements in the way they treat customers when sewer flooding occurs. Ofwat intends to work with all companies to drive improvements to ensure not only they are compliant with Condition G, but that they continue to deliver improvements in the service and support they provide to customers during sewer flooding incidents.

In line with this, Ofwat will develop guidance under Condition G to deliver the improvements and outcomes set out in the review – the regulator says:

“Having formal guidance in place will provide greater clarity for our expectations on companies, and we will take this guidance into consideration in monitoring compliance with Condition G in future.”

Click here to download the full report Sewer flooding customer care review February 2026