Anglian Water will be cutting around 200 jobs over the next five years to make “operational efficiencies” to finance its business plan after a tough final determination from Ofwat.
The company said its aim throughout is to protect its core business and the service for its customers, but regrettably had to axe jobs.
Workers union Unite said it is “deeply concerned” about the pressures Ofwat’s decision placed on the company and will support Anglian during its appeal to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “As a consequence of the very challenging final determination of our business plan for the next five years, we’re having to make a number of operational efficiencies.
“We are doing all we can to look for savings that don’t result in redundancies, but regrettably we will be removing around 200 posts across all areas of the business. Most of this will be through natural attrition and by not filling vacant roles, but it is likely there will be around 100 targeted redundancies.”
Unite, which has hundreds of members at Anglian, vowed to minimise the number of positions affected.
Unite’s regional officer, Adam Oakes said the announcement of job losses is “deeply concerning”, adding that the union will work to ensure compulsory redundancies are avoided.
“Unite is also deeply concerned about the decision by the regulator Ofwat to demand cuts of £758 million in Anglian’s budget over the next five years. Unite believes that this has resulted in the redundancies and could also impact on pay and conditions for remaining staff.
“A reduction in funding is also likely to result in an increase in leaks and vital work to improve the environment and preserve the integrity of water supplies.
“Unite understands that Anglian Water will be appealing Ofwat’s ruling on its budget to the Competition and Markets Authority and the union will support that appeal, which is in the best interests of our members.”
The company announced on 14 February that it rejected the regulator’s decision about its PR19 business plan because it could not finance what Anglian believes it must achieve to bring resilience to its region.
Director of regulation at Anglian, Alex Plant, told Utility Week the company wanted to see greater balance between bill reduction and investment in resilience.