What matters most
to our stakeholders
There are many people and groups who take an interest in the water industry, its role in society, and the North West region. The nature of our work and the huge areas of land we manage means we interact with a wide variety of stakeholders, from communities and environmental interest bodies, to suppliers and regulators.
It is important that we understand what matters to each of them and develop constructive relationships built on mutual trust. We engage and consult with stakeholders to understand their views and priorities as we develop and execute our plans, balancing their often conflicting priorities.
Engaging with our stakeholders
We engage with all of our stakeholders, including the six key groups for whom we create value and others that influence our activities. Strong, constructive relationships help us to understand what matters most to them, and their feedback has an influence on what we do, helping us to create long-term value for all.
There is robust governance to ensure regard is given to stakeholder views and priorities in decision making at executive and board level. Our S172(1) Statement provides examples of how the board has had regard to stakeholders in some of the key board decisions made during the year. The ESG committee has stakeholder engagement and reputation as standing agenda items.
The independent customer challenge group, YourVoice, aims to ensure that we put customers at the centre of our day to day service delivery, decision making and formulation and delivery of our business plans. The chair of YourVoice attends the relevant board meeting each year to provide the group’s perspective on the customer-related content in our annual performance report.
Customers
Customers
To deliver value for customers, we need to understand their immediate issues, and longer-term expectations of us as their water and wastewater company. As expectations change, we need to evolve our services to ensure we meet them. We actively seek feedback on what customers think about our service so we can make our services better and address the issues that matter to them.
Environment
Environment
We depend on the environment and have a key role in protecting and enhancing it. We engage with interested groups such as environmental regulators, non-governmental organisations, campaigners and local communities to find the best ways to tackle environmental issues, such as climate change and land management. Working together is often the best way to find the right solution.
Communities
Communities
Our work puts us at the heart of local communities – places where customers and colleagues live and work. We want to support them to be stronger and increase understanding of the impact and contribution our work has. We balance decisions based on often-competing stakeholder interests and look to develop collaborative and partnership solutions where feasible.
Colleagues
Colleagues
We could not deliver our services without our colleagues. They know the business better than anyone, bringing a diverse range of views and experience, making them well placed to identify new ways of working and opportunities for improvement, which can be raised directly to the CEO through our ‘Call it Out’ initiative. We host regular all-colleague events to share and discuss our future plans.
Suppliers
Suppliers
Good relationships help ensure projects are delivered effectively and efficiently. Awareness of issues in the supply chain means we can address them together and become more resilient. Supplier engagement can also help us identify and realise innovative approaches and solutions. Collaboration with our suppliers is key to driving efficient delivery of our business plans.
Investors
Investors
It is important that investors have confidence in the organisation and how it is managed. We provide regular updates to debt and equity investors to establish a two-way dialogue about matters of interest to them. Increasingly, this includes environmental, social and governance (ESG) updates alongside financial and performance data.
Media
Media
The media is influenced by current public interests and, in turn, the media also has the power to influence the public through what it reports. Many people hear about us and our activities from traditional and/or social media, so it is important that coverage is fair, balanced and accurate. This requires effective two-way dialogue, and we continuously engage with local and national media on important issues.
Politicians
Politicians
Politicians influence the long-term national water strategy and environmental priorities, matters that affect how all businesses operate, and champion issues raised by their constituents. Local government, elected representatives and devolved administrations provide insight into shared environmental, social and economic issues across the North West.
Regulators
Regulators
Through proactive, constructive engagement with economic, quality and environmental regulators, we understand requirements and deliver against commitments, aiming to meet, or exceed, the expectations they have of our business. We actively engage in workshops and respond to consultations to contribute towards the policy and regulatory framework.
Material themes matrix
Themes are plotted on the matrix from higher (top right) to lower (bottom left) in terms of their potential to impact company value and impact on the value we create for stakeholders.
Overarching themes
1Trust, transparency and legitimacy
Our comprehensive disclosures and integrated reporting approach provide leading levels of transparency throughout our Integrated Annual Report.
2Resilience
Resilience is a key consideration in our long-term planning, the way we manage our key resources and the ultimate focus of our risk management approach.
3Political and regulatory environment
The political and regulatory environment can have a material impact on company value and the value we create.
Key
Greener
-
5Environmental river water quality and storm overflows
-
6Climate change adaption
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11Water resources and leakage
-
15Climate change mitigation
-
18Natural capital and biodiversity
-
22Recycling biosolids
-
26Energy management
-
29Waste management
Healthier
-
4Customer service and operational performance
-
7Health, safety and wellbeing
-
9Affordability and vulnerability
-
10Drinking water quality
-
12Emerging contaminants
-
17Diverse and skilled workforce
-
24Colleague engagement
-
27Competitive markets
-
28Human rights
Stronger
-
8Cyber and data security
-
13Financial risk management
-
14Corporate governance and business conduct
-
16Supporting communities
-
19North West regional economy
-
20Recreational land and waters
-
21Land management
-
23Innovation
-
25Responsible supply chain
