CCW's annual Water Matters report puts customer trust in water companies at 6.07 out of 10 — the lowest score in the 15 years it has run the survey. Only 44% of customers think their bill is fair, a third consecutive annual decline. That's a reputational crisis for the water companies. But with AMP8 spending under constant political and media scrutiny, it's also becoming a live commercial factor for the contractors, consultants and suppliers delivering the work — from win-theme requirements in bids to how visibly "value for money" gets defined on site.
The Consumer Council for Water's (CCW) 2026 Water Matters report — its 15-year tracker of household attitudes to water and sewerage companies — makes uncomfortable reading for the sector. The overall trust score for England and Wales fell from 6.28 to 6.07 out of 10, the lowest recorded since the survey began. Thirteen of the sector's water companies saw their individual scores fall over the year. Only 44% of customers now think what they're being charged is fair — the third consecutive annual decline in that measure. Thames Water finished bottom of the table at 4.74; Northumbrian Water topped it at 7.02.
On its own, that's a story about consumer sentiment and regulatory politics. But it lands at a moment when AMP8's £104bn capital programme is under more scrutiny than at any point in the current price review — bill rises, drought restrictions, storm overflow performance and Ofwat's own enforcement record are all live stories running in parallel. For suppliers and contractors delivering that programme, declining public trust isn't background noise. It changes what water companies need from their supply chain, and it changes how visibly that work gets judged.
Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the wider "New Vision for Water" reform agenda all draw directly on public sentiment data like CCW's when building the case for tighter regulation, larger fines and closer scrutiny of company spending. A trust score at a 15-year low strengthens the political hand of anyone arguing water companies need to prove every pound of AMP8 investment delivers visible, accountable improvement — not just balance-sheet spend. That pressure flows downhill to the organisations actually doing the work.
Water companies increasingly use supply chain social value commitments — local employment, community engagement, customer communication standards, environmental stewardship — as a visible, low-cost way to demonstrate accountability to a sceptical public. Expect social value weightings in AMP8 tender evaluations to hold steady or increase rather than soften, even where budgets tighten elsewhere.
Any contractor working on customer-visible schemes — service disruptions, roadworks, property access, billing-adjacent digital services — is now operating in an environment where a poorly handled customer interaction can feed directly into a water company's next trust survey result. Water companies are likely to tighten customer communication standards and complaint-handling clauses in contracts as a result.
With only 44% of customers thinking charges are fair, water companies have a strong incentive to be able to demonstrate that AMP8 spend is efficient and well-managed. Suppliers who can quantify cost efficiency, reduced rework, and measurable outcome improvements in their bids — not just delivery capability — have a sharper story to tell into this environment.
Companies at the bottom of the trust table, and those under the most acute financial or ownership scrutiny, are the most likely to add extra governance, reporting and assurance requirements to their supply chain contracts as they try to rebuild credibility with the regulator and the public. Expect audit, compliance and reporting-heavy roles — of the kind already appearing in Ofwat's own Independent Monitor appointments — to keep growing as a procurement category in their own right.
The chain runs: falling customer trust → stronger political case for regulatory reform and enforcement → water companies tightening governance, transparency and social value requirements on their own supply chain to manage reputational risk. Suppliers who treat social value and transparent reporting as a genuine differentiator — not paperwork — are better positioned as this cycle continues through AMP8 and into AMP9.
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