Annual Report 2016
Valuing our people
We are committed to making South
Staffs Water a great place to work
with a safe, positive and rewarding
working environment. We reduced
accidents in the workplace by 20%
last year and we will continue to
place focus on ensuring the highest
employee safety standards in the
year ahead.
Our annual employee survey will
continue to play an important role
in helping us to understand the
feelings and motivations of our
people and we will work to use
the results to act in areas such as
training and development.
Employees are encouraged to
support the water industry’s charity,
WaterAid, and are provided with
opportunities to get involved. Over
£35,000 was raised in 2015/16 with
activities including a group cycling
95 miles along the Shropshire Union
Canal, a fly fishing competition and
a dinner dance.
The year ahead
As we progress through this five
year regulatory cycle, much of our
activity is mapped out. Our primary
business objective of consistently
supplying excellent quality water to
customers as well as achieving our
other performance commitments
remains and we must focus on
ensuring that the predicted benefits
of investing £480m to achieve these
outcomes are fully realised.
We will continue to develop
our systems, processes and
organisational structures in
preparation for the non-household
retail business opening up for
competition in April 2017, with
significant change expected
in a number of areas. This new
era presents both risks and
opportunities for the business and
we will continue to ensure we have
identified and planned accordingly
for both.
With the recent publication of
Ofwat’s ‘Water 2020: Our Regulatory
Approach for Water and Wastewater
Services in England and Wales’,
the direction of future regulation
is becoming clear. Whilst the full
implications are yet to be fully
evaluated, early indications are that
the broad objectives align with
the direction of travel within our
business. Key components of this
are understanding our customers’
needs, adapting to change in a
positive way and ensuring that
we look after our resources and
environment whilst continuing to
provide excellent value for money.
We look forward to meeting these
new challenges.
Local school children
participate in the opening of
the new nitrate treatment plant
at Fleam Dyke.
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