Our strategy 2023-24

Our Forward Work Programme sets out our key strategic priorities and campaigns for the coming year.

Have your say on our Draft Strategy and Forward Work Programme

We’ve launched our consultation on our Draft Forward Work Programme, which sets out our strategic plans for what we want to achieve in 2024–25 and we want to hear from you.

Read our Draft Strategy for 2024-25

What makes us tick...

  • Mission

    Ensure people are well-informed, treated fairly and have confidence in their water services.
  • Vision

    A water sector that listens to people and delivers exceptional, sustainable services that are accessible to all.
  • Purpose

    We are passionate about championing the best interests of everyone who uses water, now and in the future.

Our key priorities

What we’ll do in 2023-24

Over the past two years, the impact of the water sector on the environment has become increasingly noticeable. In addition, we are currently facing an unprecedented climate crisis that will affect both present and future generations.

What we’ll do

Collaborate with the water sector to trial activities that are aimed at helping people to value water and use it wisely, including encouraging and supporting trials of innovative tariffs.


We will work with water companies to ensure consumers are able to access clear and reliable near real time data on the use of storm overflows.


We want to see the creation of Accelerated Reduction in Demand (ARID) – a hub that would act as the catalyst to improve consumer messaging and incentives to reduce demand for water


Find out more about people and the environment

1 in 5 people in England and Wales struggle to pay their water bill.

We will continue to highlight the link between water and energy saving and the cost-of-living crisis and help the sector to develop unified messages

What we’ll do

Raise people’s awareness of the financial support offered by their water company to 50% by summer 2024.


We will continue to highlight the link between water and energy saving and the cost-of-living crisis and help the sector to develop unified messages.


Find out more about our work in affordability and vulnerability

Customers should never have to complain to their water company, but sometimes things do go wrong. When this happens, we want the complaints process to be as swift and hassle-free as possible.

We will improve the customer complaint experience by reducing customer effort, driving efficiency and delivering high-quality responses across the sector, showing an increase in satisfaction with CCW’s service to 80% by 2023 and getting all companies to provide a substantive response to customers within five working days by 2025.

What we’ll do

Host an event which explores how companies can develop a culture which puts customers at the centre and builds legitimacy and trust.


A better customer complaints journey

  • Work with all parties to establish a one stop shop for mediation and adjudication for customer complaints by December 2023.
  • We will increase our own satisfaction with service to over 80%, continuing that upward trend in subsequent years.

We will develop clear and consistent, customer-facing, messages to be used by the whole sector across all of our key programmes to increase clarity of message and consumer trust.


A customer focused licence condition is produced by Ofwat for water companies, that includes our key asks.

Satisfaction levels for business customers remains lower than at market opening in 2017.

We want satisfaction for all business customers in England and Wales to show a rising trend, with satisfaction with retail services to exceed 85% by 2027.

What we’ll do

Reduce the number of complaints received by CCW from business customers by 10% by March 2024.


Ensure that the code change required for the credit where its due campaign is progressed and implemented in a timely manner.


A Market Performance Framework (MPF) is produced that delivers our objectives for reform set out in our five-year review of the market.


Engage with and support business customers in Wales who will be affected by eligibility changes, to ensure a smooth transition.


Work collaboratively with partners and stakeholders to deliver the recommendations set out in our five-year review of the market.

This is a peak year of activity for the 2024 Price Review (PR24) and it has never been more important for people’s voices to be heard. Our work on the price review has enormous implications for our other programmes, especially ‘affordability and vulnerability’ and ‘People and the Environment’.

We want to deliver our Price Review objectives.

What we’ll do

Work with Ofwat to develop open challenge sessions that successfully engage people in a way that captures a broad spectrum of their views on company business plans.


Work with the Challenge Coordination Group (COG) to improve our understanding of how the Independent Challenge Groups operate. We will use this insight to support these groups in speaking up for customers throughout the price review process.


For this year on objectives;

  • We want all companies’ business plans to clearly set out the actions they will take to deliver comprehensive affordability and vulnerability support.
  • Companies to demonstrate they have changed their plans  in areas where research shows customers have found their proposals unacceptable.
  • CCW will influence Ofwat’s ongoing cost of capital evaluation to ensure it reflects our independent assessment.

Find out more on our price review

Our campaigns

Our campaigns strive to address important issues and make a positive impact on society, with a focus on addressing water poverty, raising awareness on drought, and improving Guaranteed Standards Scheme.

See what we're campaigning
Download Our strategy plans for 2023-24 (pdf – 1 MB)
Download Our strategy plans for 2023-24 - Welsh (pdf – 1 MB)
Download Our strategy plans for 2022-23 (pdf – 6 MB)
Download Our strategy plans for 2022-23 - Welsh (pdf – 7 MB)