Recommendations & Conclusions
11 items
2
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
South East Water did not have the right processes in place to identify and mitigate risks at Pembury Works, despite previous warnings from the DWI. That the company had “normalised” critical risks and was “flying blind” in the lead up to the crisis is a fundamental failure for a water …
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South East Water did not have the right processes in place to identify and mitigate risks at Pembury Works, despite previous warnings from the DWI. That the company had “normalised” critical risks and was “flying blind” in the lead up to the crisis is a fundamental failure for a water company responsible for a critical natural resource. In a perverse sense, Mr Hinton was right in saying that the events were “unforeseeable”; but only because the company had actively chosen to not put in the essential monitoring processes that would have enabled action before the outages began. As a result, the company failed to properly monitor threats such as ineffective coagulant dosing systems. A failure to have the right jar test processes meant that manageable problems escalated unnecessarily, undermining routine coagulant treatments, eventually and unnecessarily turning off the taps for businesses, essential services and tens of thousands of customers. (Conclusion, Paragraph 16) 39
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings in risk identification and mitigation processes by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
3
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Maintenance issues at Pembury contributed to the Tunbridge Wells incident in 2025, but it is South East Water’s self-identified lack of proactive and “instinctive” maintenance across its network that is most concerning. One of the most fundamental and basic responsibilities of a water company is to plan for and have …
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Maintenance issues at Pembury contributed to the Tunbridge Wells incident in 2025, but it is South East Water’s self-identified lack of proactive and “instinctive” maintenance across its network that is most concerning. One of the most fundamental and basic responsibilities of a water company is to plan for and have the staff and resources available to maintain assets. Yet SEW did not see this a priority, even in some of its most vulnerable areas, contributing to a series of major water outages between 2020 and 2023. (Conclusion, Paragraph 20)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings in maintenance by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must now demonstrate credible leadership …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
5
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Despite South East Water’s assertions to the contrary, periods of peak demand and extreme weather can and should be broadly predicted and prepared for. Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate have shown that the company failed to model upcoming peaks and troughs and take the necessary steps in preceding weeks …
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Despite South East Water’s assertions to the contrary, periods of peak demand and extreme weather can and should be broadly predicted and prepared for. Ofwat and the Drinking Water Inspectorate have shown that the company failed to model upcoming peaks and troughs and take the necessary steps in preceding weeks and months to boost resilience and reduce the risk of a crisis. Its leadership’s approach to incident response planning is pitiful; there are signs that incident response plans either do not exist or are of poor quality, receiving little or no stress-testing to improve them. The recent experience of its customers, as well as an overreliance on external support, are testament to this lack of planning. This has had real-world consequences for tens of thousands of customers, many of them vulnerable. (Conclusion, Paragraph 30)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings in prediction, planning, and incident response by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
6
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Both the Drinking Water Inspectorate and South East Water acknowledge the weaknesses of the escalation processes around the Pembury incident. This meant that operational staff were not given sufficient support to diagnose problems early and that key stakeholders were informed too late, inhibiting preparations and in breach of regulations. We …
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Both the Drinking Water Inspectorate and South East Water acknowledge the weaknesses of the escalation processes around the Pembury incident. This meant that operational staff were not given sufficient support to diagnose problems early and that key stakeholders were informed too late, inhibiting preparations and in breach of regulations. We are concerned that the CEO was too involved at the Pembury Works, a potential distraction from his overall crisis command. Either this is a further problem with escalation processes, or a choice by Mr Hinton to go against his company’s own procedures. In either scenario, SEW appears unable to determine when and where its leadership team can provide maximum value. In the case of 40 Tunbridge Wells, this ultimately impaired the CEO’s ability to communicate to customers and may have played a role in the poor crisis response. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings in escalation processes and crisis command by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
7
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Given the huge number of supply interruptions that South East Water has failed to manage over the years, it is remarkable that the company still struggles with the supply of bottled water during outages, has failed to learn and apply lessons and relies on the goodwill of communities. Problems discussed …
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Given the huge number of supply interruptions that South East Water has failed to manage over the years, it is remarkable that the company still struggles with the supply of bottled water during outages, has failed to learn and apply lessons and relies on the goodwill of communities. Problems discussed elsewhere in this report could arguably take significant time and resources to resolve, but knowing where to set up bottled water stations and having enough bottles to go around is a fundamental and basic responsibility. That the company is only now considering more local ways of delivering water bottles speaks to its disregard for the consumers relying on it for a life-sustaining provision. (Conclusion, Paragraph 41)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the serious failings of South East Water, highlighting ongoing regulatory enforcement and proposed penalties from Ofwat and DWI. It notes that it has doubled customer compensation and introduced new standards for supply outages and boil water notices.
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Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
8
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Similarly to the provision of alternative water supplies, South East Water now has years of experience in communicating during supply interruptions. It is incomprehensible that SEW still lacks a crisis communications strategy or a well-developed communications team given the company’s propensity for water outages. This put communication teams in a …
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Similarly to the provision of alternative water supplies, South East Water now has years of experience in communicating during supply interruptions. It is incomprehensible that SEW still lacks a crisis communications strategy or a well-developed communications team given the company’s propensity for water outages. This put communication teams in a difficult position. Basic communications errors, like giving incorrect and inconsistent information about bottled water stations, using the wrong postcodes, poorly chosen language and a lack of empathy with customers, should not need external consultants to resolve. Vague answers to our questions to the company have not outlined what will happen to embed lessons, prevent future disconnections with operations, and ensure that a new communications “playbook” will be kept up to date and stress-tested. This does not give us confidence in the leadership’s ability to learn from its previous mistakes and address the problems we have identified. (Conclusion, Paragraph 46)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings, detailing ongoing regulatory enforcement, proposed penalties, and new compensation standards for customers. It states the government is working with regulators to ensure a strong, coordinated response to protect customers.
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
10
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
The Tunbridge Wells incident and Ofwat investigations reveal that South East Water’s leadership has repeatedly proved itself incapable of implementing the lessons learnt from previous incidents, even simple ones such as having a communication strategy for when resolution timeframes are unclear. While the company was clearly trying to learn from …
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The Tunbridge Wells incident and Ofwat investigations reveal that South East Water’s leadership has repeatedly proved itself incapable of implementing the lessons learnt from previous incidents, even simple ones such as having a communication strategy for when resolution timeframes are unclear. While the company was clearly trying to learn from its previous mistakes, it caused more problems in doing so, indicative of an inability to understand and resolve core problems. This is not through lack of warnings or proposed solutions, but an inability to adapt swiftly to mitigate future risks. Despite claims that they are otherwise a “good company”, this has manifested in a shocking performance, failing to deliver the basic function of a water company: delivering water. No other metrics of success can offset this fundamental shortcoming. (Conclusion, Paragraph 56)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges that South East Water's leadership has taken responsibility for failings, noting the resignations of the Chair and Chief Executive. It states the company must now implement changes and commits that the government and regulators will continue to work with the company through …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
11
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
Since at least 2020, South East Water clearly has had, and continues to demonstrate, an inability to establish the root causes of its supply resilience problems. There are likely many facets to this, including a failure to monitor the key asset indicators, and a tendency to blame external factors, as …
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Since at least 2020, South East Water clearly has had, and continues to demonstrate, an inability to establish the root causes of its supply resilience problems. There are likely many facets to this, including a failure to monitor the key asset indicators, and a tendency to blame external factors, as highlighted elsewhere in this report. The company leadership seems to be divorced from the real-world situations, either due to a lack of feedback data and processes, or a willingness to ignore problems. There also appears to be a fundamental inability to properly analyse the data it does have, most recently demonstrated by its first misleading analysis of the Tunbridge Wells outages in November-December 2025. This misunderstanding appears to have happened throughout the organisation, including at the very top. While the company now does accept it has a problem with its problem- solving processes, vague conclusions after the event also suggest that the current leadership have still failed to conduct and accept a proper analysis. (Conclusion, Paragraph 63)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings in identifying root causes by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must now demonstrate …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
12
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
South East Water’s leadership team has demonstrated a clear preference for blaming factors outside of their control for performance issues, and in some cases, they continue to do so, despite clear evidence to the contrary. A lack of data-analysis skills might be partially to blame, but it is also clear …
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South East Water’s leadership team has demonstrated a clear preference for blaming factors outside of their control for performance issues, and in some cases, they continue to do so, despite clear evidence to the contrary. A lack of data-analysis skills might be partially to blame, but it is also clear that a culture of obfuscating responsibility has also taken hold, seriously inhibiting their ability to analyse problems and learn lessons. The company’s investigations, as well as that of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, have identified potential issues with a lack of challenge or groupthink within the company: that “family feel” may be closer to a “clique” than a benefit. We have serious doubts that the addition of two more executives will tackle this pervasive problem. (Conclusion, Paragraph 68)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's serious failings and culture of obfuscating responsibility by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must now …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
13
Recommendation
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
South East Water has failed to engage with key stakeholders outside the company to help it learn from its mistakes. It is unwilling to properly listen to its customers, who have repeatedly complained of addressable failures 42 and yet continue to suffer them. The company’s leadership has taken a defensive …
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South East Water has failed to engage with key stakeholders outside the company to help it learn from its mistakes. It is unwilling to properly listen to its customers, who have repeatedly complained of addressable failures 42 and yet continue to suffer them. The company’s leadership has taken a defensive approach with regulators to the point of trying to obstruct their reports and in so doing mislead credit agencies, demonstrating at best a lack of transparency, and at worst an attempt to actively deceive external stakeholders. This is yet another cultural problem that must be addressed to allow South East Water to account for its own actions. (Conclusion, Paragraph 72) Conclusions and next steps
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges South East Water's cultural failures by detailing ongoing regulatory actions, including a credit rating downgrade, a licence breach, a proposed £22 million penalty, and placement into a formal Transformation Programme. It stresses that the company must now demonstrate credible leadership and delivery, …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
15
Conclusion
8th Report – Failures at South East Wat…
Acknowledged
These failures are symptomatic of significant cultural problems that cannot be readily explained by issues with the wider regulatory framework: this includes South East Water’s failure to engage with external stakeholders, inclination for groupthink, inability to analyse problems, incapability to implement basic changes and a propensity to shirk responsibility. This …
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These failures are symptomatic of significant cultural problems that cannot be readily explained by issues with the wider regulatory framework: this includes South East Water’s failure to engage with external stakeholders, inclination for groupthink, inability to analyse problems, incapability to implement basic changes and a propensity to shirk responsibility. This culture, which permeates through all the company’s key decision- making processes, needs to change, and culture starts from the top. As such, we have no confidence that the executive team at South East Water is capable of this challenge, nor any confidence in the team itself. (Conclusion, Paragraph 77)
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges that South East Water's leadership has taken responsibility for cultural failings, noting the resignations of the Chair and Chief Executive. It states the company must now implement changes and commits that the government and regulators will continue to work with the company …
Read full response →
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs