Conclusion 7

Social tariffs, for water and broadband, provide services at a discounted price for consumers on lower incomes.7 Take-up of social tariffs has increased, but remains very low.8 Only 6% of water customers in England and Wales, and fewer than 9% of eligible broadband customers, are on social tariffs.9 Martin Lewis referenced research by Policy in Practice, a social policy software and analytics company. Policy in Practice estimates that the number of households missing out on social tariffs and related support could be as high as 6.1 million households in water, and 8.4 million households in broadband.10 Awareness remains low, with only 39% of people who need financial help from their water company aware that that this is something that they can ask for, and an even lower percentage (34%) in broadband.11