Water2business vulnerability strategy

Water2business recognise some of our business customers may experience vulnerability and encounter circumstances where they need our support.

Our strategy outlines how we identify these customers and offer support.

We understand vulnerability can be a transient state, and business customers can move in and out of circumstances that make them vulnerable. This could include temporary financial struggles caused by sudden market changes, extreme weather events, operational disruptions, or supply chain disruptions. Vulnerability can also occur when there are permanent challenges, such as the ill health of a key individual to the business or significant life events such as bereavement or relationship breakdowns.

Identifying vulnerability

We provide training to our teams to enable them to support and identify customers that are experiencing vulnerability. This is covered in our induction training, as part of our quality management scoring in our one-to-one weekly coaching sessions, and an annual e-learning training course that is mandatory for all our people. These tools provide our team members with the skills to recognise signs of vulnerability and communicate with empathy and understanding.

Support offered

We are committed to offering supportive, flexible, and accessible services to all our customers, including those who may be vulnerable or require additional assistance. Below is an overview of the support currently available and the measures we take to ensure reasonable and accessible communication.

1. Flexible Payment Support

  • We offer payment plans tailored to individual customer circumstances.
  • Flexibility is adopted in relation to billing frequency and debt repayment times, where appropriate.
  • We can apply temporary holds on accounts to pause debt recovery action while a resolution is being worked on.

2. Contact Preferences and Communication Channels

We understand that customers value choice in how they communicate with us. We offer multiple ways to get in touch:

  • Phone
  • Email
  • Online form
  • Social media
  • Letter

When a customer informs us of their preferred method of contact, this is recorded in our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and respected in all future communication. If no preference is given, we will make reasonable efforts to engage through the most effective and appropriate channel.

3. Accessible Communication

We adapt our communication methods to meet accessibility needs, including:

  • Large print bills, font size adjustments for our visually impaired customers.
  • Telephone communication options for customers who are unable to engage with written formats.
  • Flexibility in how information is presented in bill format as we offer Excel and PDF bill formats.

4. Collaboration with wholesalers

  • We work in collaboration with Wholesalers to support customers who require a Site Specific Arrangement (SSA). An SSA outlines how water supplies will be maintained in the event of a supply interruption or water quality incident to critical facilities such as hospitals or prisons.
  • Where meters are inaccessible to customers, we will work with wholesalers to relocate meters to areas that are more accessible to the customer, wherever possible.

Commitments

We currently offer a wide range of measures to support our vulnerable customers. Our focus is on maintaining high standards and ensuring consistency.

In the short term - we will increase awareness by posting about our vulnerability support on our social media channels every quarter and by introducing a dedicated section on our website outlining our vulnerability policy.

Over the medium term - we will implement a randomised annual survey targeting a sample of customers to gather feedback on water2business’s vulnerability offering, helping us refine and improve our services.

Looking to the long term - we are committed to the ongoing development of our payment technology and online customer portal, enhancing accessibility and enabling all customers to interact with us and manage their accounts with greater ease.

Our strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis by the Customer Services Manager and the Director of Customer Services.