Stakeholder perceptions research 2017

This research explored stakeholders’ views on how CCWater could improve its performance in areas such as working in collaboration and partnership, communication and understanding stakeholders’ organisations. The 2017 research built on previous stakeholder surveys in 2007 and 2014.

The key findings include:

• Stakeholders’ satisfaction with CCWater remains high.
• Stakeholders feel we could be more collaborative and work in partnership with the water sector – and beyond – for the benefit of consumers.
• Primary stakeholders (senior decision makers in water companies, government and regulators) have a better understanding of what CCWater does than secondary or tertiary stakeholders.
• Stakeholders’ perceptions of the need for an organisation with CCWater’s role have increased.
• Our success in carrying out our statutory role to represent the interests of consumers has improved slightly, but there is room for us to enhance our performance in some areas.
• Stakeholders rate their engagement with CCWater highly at both national and a regional level. They also value our role in policy discussion, our sector specific knowledge, our focus on vulnerable customers and our evidence base.
• However, some stakeholders would like CCWater to be more proactive and do more to lead the consumer agenda.
• There are mixed views among stakeholders about whether CCWater should raise its profile among consumers generally or focus our attention on those who need our help.
• Stakeholders receive about the right amount of communication from CCWater and believe it is targeted at the right person in their organisation.
• However, they think we could be more visible, hold more events, use a broader range of communication channels and make better use of digital technologies to reach a younger audience.

We have considered stakeholders’ views carefully and recognise that we have some work to do to raise understanding of what CCWater does, especially among secondary and tertiary stakeholders. To address this we plan to run a campaign to explain to stakeholders who are relatively new to CCWater how and why we work on behalf of consumers.

We will make more effective use of the communication channels preferred by stakeholders, including more regular, tailored email updates, face-to-face meetings and targeted events.

We will also seek collaboration and ways to enhance our impact by working with partners wherever we can and we will demonstrate our impact in delivering improvements for consumers through the increased use of case studies, videos and infographics.