This page sets out the standards Ofwat expect all water companies, including new appointees, to achieve when using their priority services registers to support household customers in England and Wales from 1 April 2025 onwards.
Water companies offer a range of extra help to customers that need it. A priority services register is a water company’s record of customers that need extra help – and the help they can expect to receive.
Companies should take the standards into account in relation to their compliance with their licence condition ‘Condition G: Principles for Customer Care’. They should also take into account our broader ‘Service For All vulnerability guidance‘.
Water companies in England also have PSR obligations under the guaranteed standards scheme.
Our standards focus on five key areas. Click on the links below to view each section of our guidance.
You can find more information on how else we are encouraging companies to deliver better services for customers on other pages of our website.
If you have any questions about these standards, please contact us. We also welcome direct feedback on how our standards are working and where customers are experiencing both good or bad service from their water company and those representing water companies.
A full electronic copy of ‘Priority services registers – standards for water companies in England and Wales from 1 April 2025‘ is available to download.
Definitions
All companies that have household customers should establish and maintain a priority services register (PSR) which contains such details of PSR customers as will allow them to meet the requirements set out in these standards, and the minimum expectations of Ofwat’s Service For All vulnerability guidance.
Companies should refer to their PSR as a ‘priority services register’ or ‘PSR’, rather than adopting their own company-specific name.
Needs and services
Customers who are likely to benefit from being on the PSR include those who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Of pensionable age;
- Are disabled;
- Have an illness which affects their day-to-day life;
- Are pregnant or live with children aged 5 and under;
- Have a mental health condition;
- Have a hearing or sight condition;
- Have a poor sense of taste or smell;
- Are unable to or have difficulties in communicating in English or Welsh;
- Have a cognitive impairment, learning disability, developmental conditions or dementia;
- Require additional showering or bathing due to a health condition;
- Have physical impairments; or
- Are going through a disruptive life event, such as bereavement.
The above list is non-exhaustive and companies should consider the full range of customers who may benefit from PSR support. This includes customers who may only benefit from PSR services for a short or intermittent period of time.
Companies should provide customers on their PSR with relevant services or service adaptations. These are likely to include:
- Delivery of alternative water supplies during an interruption;
- Knock and wait facilities (where visiting staff know to allow extra time for customers to answer the door);
- Additional communications, contact, or support around outages or incidents;
- Additional metering support or services by the company;
- Alternative communication formats such as braille, audio information, large print, etc;
- Arrangement of additional presence during visits;
- Third party support (where a nominated trusted contact is allowed to manage a customer’s account on their behalf);
- Password facilities (where staff use a password when dealing with a customer);
- Signposting to other support and services, both within and outside the company; and
- Priority contact before or during actual or potential outages to understand impact and / or ask if further support needed.
The above list is non-exhaustive and companies should consider the full range of extra help services they can provide to their PSR customers.
When considering the type of support to be provided to the customer, companies should consider additional factors that may make a customer more vulnerable, for example: living alone or in a remote location.
Reach
All companies should make all reasonable endeavours towards having a comprehensive picture of PSR service requirements of individual customers in their area.
This will require all companies to grow their PSRs beyond the levels achieved by incumbent companies during the 2020-25 period.
We estimate that as of 2021, up to approximately 50% of households in England and Wales may be eligible for PSR services.
Eligible customers’ level and nature of needs are likely to vary significantly. Therefore, as they take steps to grow their PSRs, companies should be mindful to prioritise those customers at greatest risk of harm.
Data checking
Companies’ records of customers’ PSR service requirements should be kept up to date and reviewed with an appropriate degree of regularity.
At minimum, all companies should:
- achieve actual contact with 35% of households on the PSR every two years; and
- attempt contact with 90% of households on the PSR every two years.
Definitions for actual and attempted contacts are as set out in our reporting guidance for the 2020-25 common performance commitment for the PSR.
Registration
When customers request to be added to the PSR, companies should implement this within relevant systems as soon as possible, and relevant support services provided as soon as possible.
When customers have been added to the PSR, companies should actively confirm this with the customer, for example, through a welcome letter or email.
This communication should provide information about the support that customer will receive.
In particular, this communication should be clear about the circumstances in which the customer can expect different types of support. For example: bottled water deliveries in the event of a supply interruption of a certain duration.
This communication should be made available in accessible formats. It should also include details of how to contact the company, in case the customer’s needs change.