Thames Water, councils, and Policy in Practice team up to reduce water bills for Londoners

Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion — especially in North Queensland — about councils facing tough choices. Rising costs, limited funding, and increasing expectations are forcing local governments to rethink how they deliver services, and in some cases, whether they can deliver them at all. It’s not just about rates or revenue — it’s about the cost of keeping communities running. Waste, infrastructure, compliance, customer service, digital channels — every area is feeling the pressure. What often gets lost in the conversation is that councils aren’t just cutting costs — they’re constantly balancing value, sustainability, and fairness. And that’s incredibly hard to do when the systems underneath service delivery are fragmented or outdated. The more disconnected those systems are — finance from operations, assets from customer, process from data — the harder it becomes to make informed, confident decisions about where to focus limited resources. This is where I believe the real opportunity lies. Not in doing more with less, but in doing better with what’s already there — through clearer structures, better visibility, and systems that truly support service delivery, not hinder it. That’s where transformation starts. Quietly. Practically. From the inside out. Brighter systems. Better government. 💡 #LocalGovernment #PublicSector #ServiceDelivery #DigitalTransformation #Governance #SystemDesign #CapabilityUplift #BrightGov https://lnkd.in/gMgYwsej

Every council I talk to is feeling the same thing — costs are climbing, funding’s tightening, and expectations keep growing. This post isn’t about blame or budgets. It’s about the systems that quietly shape how services are delivered and sustained. Worth a read if you’re in the sector or working alongside it!

New resource to assist customers experiencing financial stress    Financial Counselling Australia have just released their ‘10 Principles of Good Hardship Practice’ a practical guide to help organisations better support customers experiencing affordability issues.     We see #financialstress in our dispute resolution work at EWON and offer face to face support and practical advice to customers as part of our community engagement program. We support these guidelines which are designed to help organisations:  🗣️Communicate clearly and respectfully  🫴 Offer realistic and flexible solutions  🪟 Build trust and transparency  📳 Make affordability support accessible and stigma-free    At #EWON, we’re aware of the stigma attached to not being able to afford an energy or water bill and how hard it is for customers to ask for help. For this reason, we consciously adopt language that places emphasis on the bill being unaffordable, rather than the customer being unable to pay the bill. We refer to #affordabilityprograms rather than hardship programs – and we encourage others in the industry to adopt the same language 💪. Afterall, this small switch could be the difference between a customer remaining silent or picking up the phone to access the support they need.

Five Top costs shifted onto NSW Councils 🔎 The top five major cost shifts from the NSW Government are draining more than $1.2 billion from NSW council budgets annually, as revealed in the 2025 Cost Shifting Report. 📌 Rate exemptions - $294.6 million 📌 Waste levy - $266.9 million 📌 DAs and regulatory functions - $258.8 million 📌 Emergency service contributions - $240.8 million and 📌 Library funding - $181.8 million. Cost shifting occurs when state and federal governments force councils to assume responsibility for infrastructure, services and regulatory functions without providing sufficient supporting funding. Cost shifting unfairly absorbs costs into council rates, limiting councils’ ability to invest in local priorities and essential community infrastructure. Read the full cost shifting report > https://bit.ly/4lu2V1i #YourLGNSW #CostShiftingReport

Spot on Chris You've signed contracts with contractors that say you will pay them within 30 days, but instead you choose to pay them only when you have cash. That is unacceptable. "I will ask National Treasury and the Auditor-General to investigate this, because you are setting up contractors for failure that you have appointed." Morero admitted the city prioritised payments for staff salaries and medical aid, followed by bulk suppliers like Eskom and Rand Water. Contractors are paid last — if there is cash. No date has been given for repayment of the diverted R4-billion."

Under our pioneering new partnership with 17 London councils and data analytics company Policy in Practice, we’ll be automatically cutting the cost of bills for Londoners caught in the cost-of-living crisis.    Using our innovative data sharing agreements, we’ll auto-enrol customers for the financial support they’re entitled to – without them even needing to apply.     This scheme will help us provide more than £10 million in financial support to an estimated 33,000 households, saving each of them £300 a year on average.    “With rising water bills putting more pressure on struggling households, this scheme delivers real help to households who need it most by automatically reducing their costs,” says Deven Ghelani from Policy in Practice. “Thames Water is leading the way as the first water company to offer automatic enrolment onto a social tariff worth millions of pounds.”    Across our region, we supported more than 400,000 households and invested around £116 million in financial support in 2024/25. We’re committed to helping as many customers as we can getting the support they need.    Read more at https://bit.ly/3KPPX0r

Two more councils have been given the lowest Consumer grades by the Regulator of Social Housing - but the solutions don’t need to be costly or complex. This month, the RSH issued 11 new Consumer gradings. All nine housing associations were graded C1 or C2. Two councils were graded C3 and C4. The issues are familiar: 🔴 Safety actions left incomplete 🔴 Repairs overdue and records out of date 🔴 Tenants not listened to or informed The good news? Councils don’t need big-ticket systems or multi-year programmes to put things right. ✅ Start by getting a clear picture of your data and gaps ✅ Strengthen oversight with better information, not more bureaucracy ✅ Fix critical processes before investing in new IT Small, affordable changes can deliver better tenant outcomes in months, and address issues that lead to poor gradings without breaking the bank. At Proven EA, our Proven Performance System™ helps councils make those improvements stick. 📄 Blog with full details in the comments. #UKHousing #SocialHousing #LocalGovernment #HousingCompliance #BusinessEfficiency #SHRA2023 #ProvenPerformanceSystem

It is really easy to be critical of councils' housing standards but the truth is they are already over-stretched so big ticket transformations are simply not an option for many. In this article, we look at common issues and affordable solutions for councils have to make a difference right now. Critical reading for any council or other social housing provider that wants to make things right but is struggling to afford it.

A year ago Citizens Advice Cymru published 'Reaching Crisis Point: the story in Wales', highlighting the scale of hardship facing thousands of Welsh households. Since that time, the Welsh Government has made welcome commitments to ease pressure on those most at risk, including continued investment in the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF). We have also seen an increase in the National Minimum Wage and a small 1.7% increase in working-age benefits. However, while welcome, these developments do not compensate for years of high inflation, benefit freezes and cuts, and insecure employment. Tens of thousands of people across Wales still can’t afford to heat their homes or pay their bills at the end of each month. As highlighted in our latest blog below, with the next Senedd election looming we need action from the next Welsh Government that shifts the dial on how we tackle poverty. There needs to be a renewed focus and ambition to raise living standards in Wales — and improve lives for good. https://lnkd.in/enNFXjXW https://lnkd.in/eGcGUjKW

"What we've got here is failure to communicate" The housing crisis in Australia is spiraling, and it is time we confront a hard truth: the Federal Government is driving population growth without a clear plan for how to house people, leaving the States scrambling to pick up the pieces. We keep hearing about "boosting supply" as the solution, whether it is through the $1B presale finance guarantee, planning reforms, reducing "red tape," or first home buyer subsidies. But let us not kid ourselves: this is not a supply problem. It is a demand problem. Here is the reality: 1. Net migration is at record highs, fueling housing demand at a pace that even the best planning reforms cannot keep up with. 2. States are being forced into reactive measures, yet they lack the resources and coordination to tackle the root cause: the sheer scale of demand being unleashed by population growth policies. 3. No amount of streamlined approvals, subsidies, or financial guarantees will fix the structural imbalance between demand and supply if the Federal Government fails to take housing into account when setting migration targets. This is not about being anti-growth. It is about being realistic. Without coordination between the Federal and State Governments on population and housing policies, we are stuck in a vicious cycle: A. Housing becomes more unaffordable. B. Infrastructure and services are stretched to breaking point. C. Communities push back against new developments because they see no corresponding investment in livability. We need to stop pretending this is a problem that can be solved with a checklist of "supply-side" measures. Until population growth and housing supply are planned together, we will continue to see policies that tinker around the edges without addressing the core issue. Let us call it what it is: a failure to communicate. Federal and State Governments need to get on the same page - urgently. What do you think? Are we tackling this crisis from the wrong angle? #InTheMedia #ExpertCommentary #ThoughtLeadership #BreakingNews #PolicyAnalysis #HousingCrisis #PopulationGrowth #UrbanDevelopment #GovernmentPolicy #MediaExpert #OpEd #Journalism #PublicDebate #HousingPolicy #FutureOfCities