Ofwat has published “near-final versions” of licensing policy and application guidance.for New Appointments and Variations (NAVs) alongside a decision document updating its licensing policy and application guidance.

The decision document sets out the decisions Ofwat has made following its October 2025 consultation on wording changes to update licensing policy and application guidance for New Appointments and Variations (NAVs).

In particular, Ofwat is reducing the processing times for the majority of NAV applications ( Stream 1) from 85 to 60 working days, while strengthening protections for customers and the environment through improving assessment of performance and compliance and using these insights to inform its licensing decisions.

Ofwat says the reforms it is making through the decision document support those set out in the UK Government's White Paper published in January 2026 by making the framework for regulating the NAV market more proportionate, and with recommendation 62 of the IWC on NAV applications.

The consultation proposed wording changes to the policy and guidance, to embed key decisions made in April 2025, new policy proposals regarding the better off commitments for Welsh sites, and additional information to support high quality applications.

Alongside the decision document, Ofwat is publishing responses to the consultation and marked-up near-final versions of the licensing policy and application guidance.

Ofwat says it will publish clean final versions of the documents when it is clear that no further changes are required to align with changes to the application form which is accessed via the application portal.

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