The much-anticipated Independent Water Commission Final Report, released in July 2025, marks a pivotal moment for the UK water sector. With 88 recommendations and a clear call for transformation, the report doesn’t just challenge the status quo—it lays out a vision for a fundamentally restructured sector built on long-term planning, innovation, and stronger governance.
As Future Water, we welcome this bold roadmap. Our advocacy over the past two years—through responses to the Call for Evidence, our detailed feedback on the Interim Report, and extensive member engagement—has consistently pushed for the very reforms now being recommended. From regulatory integration to skills development, and from cyber resilience to innovation culture, the Commission’s conclusions resonate deeply with our position.
🔍 Critical Issues the Commission Confronts
- A Single Integrated Regulator: Echoing our call for a joined-up approach to oversight, the report proposes merging Ofwat, the Environment Agency’s water functions, Natural England, and the DWI into a powerful Integrated Water Regulator. The Government has already moved to abolish Ofwat, with further reforms expected through new legislation.
- Infrastructure Delivery Reform: The proposed Water Infrastructure Company (WIC) under NISTA is a game-changer. It will centralise delivery of strategic infrastructure, standardise procurement, and support digitalisation and blended finance. This aligns directly with our push for coordinated long-term planning and investment clarity.
- Skills, Cybersecurity, Innovation: The report finally places serious emphasis on resilience standards, skills for the future, and cybersecurity as foundational elements of modern water systems. Our working groups have long championed these issues. In particular, the Digital Resilience & Cyber group’s work on maturity frameworks will be vital in shaping future regulation and delivery models.
- Metering and Digitalisation: One of the new additions in the final report is the endorsement of smart metering rollout with competitive market entry, echoing Future Water’s focus on interoperability and real-time infrastructure intelligence. This demonstrates the Commission’s movement closer to the innovation-led vision we have consistently advocated.
🤝 A Clearer Role for Future Water’s Working Groups
Each of Future Water’s core groups—Leakage, Metering, Standards, Skills, Innovation, Developer Services, Digital Resilience, and Insights—now has a more clearly defined contribution to make:
- Standards work to map regulatory relationships is already serving as a foundation for shaping the structure of the new regulator.
- Developer Services can influence system planning tools and NAV frameworks.
- Emerging Talent and IP & Innovation groups are now positioned at the heart of a sector that will need to change how it attracts people and nurtures new ideas.
- Insights and Cyber groups will shape the digital backbone of the future water system.
🛠️ From Advocacy to Implementation
We’re proud to see how closely our views are reflected in the Commission’s conclusions. But this is just the beginning. The real test lies in implementation—developing new structures, tools, standards, and partnerships that reflect this new vision. With Government set to respond formally this autumn and legislation likely in 2026, Future Water and our members are ready to roll up our sleeves and help shape a resilient, sustainable, and trusted sector for the decades to come.
|
Working Group |
Implications |
Action for Future Water |
|
Leakage & Metering |
Leakage and metering will be core to performance-based regulation. Digital tools and data standards will be critical. |
Define common performance metrics and work with regional planners and the Water Infrastructure Company (WIC) on smart metering frameworks. |
|
Standards |
The Standards group’s previous work on aligning industry, regulators, and government can directly feed into shaping the new unified regulator. Their work on conceptual relationships between utilities, suppliers, and regulators could form a foundation for designing the governance structure of the new regulator. |
Use established relationships and frameworks to collaborate with DEFRA and others on regulatory standard architecture. Offer the conceptual model as a working template for regulator structure and engagement. |
|
Emerging Talent / Skills |
The sector will require a digital, resilient, and multi-skilled workforce. A Sector Skills Plan will be a key opportunity. |
Engage with government on Sector Skills Plan. Develop proposals for digital apprenticeships, curriculum reform, and talent pipelines. |
|
Developer Services |
Planning streamlining will need cross-sector coordination. Developer services will need to align with new planning frameworks. |
Collaborate with local planning authorities (LPAs) and utility partners to co-design streamlined, digital developer services frameworks. |
|
IP & Innovation |
Innovation will be embedded into supervisory and delivery models. Opportunity to lead pilot programmes and sandbox initiatives. |
Propose use cases and lead on innovation showcase for post-commission water sector, with focus on scalable models. |
|
Digital Resilience & Cyber |
Cybersecurity is formally recognised as a sector-wide risk. Standards and platforms must ensure resilience and compliance. |
Lead definition of sector-wide cyber maturity standards and minimum viable practices for data security. |
|
Insights |
Real-time ESG and performance insights will underpin trust. Insight work must support dashboards, transparency, and evidence-led decision making. |
Work with CCW and regulators to co-develop real-time reporting formats and stakeholder feedback mechanisms. |