York academics help produce water poverty report for England and Wales
Posted on Monday 10 August 2026
The report defines water poverty as those households that spend more than five percent of their income on water services after housing costs. It also says that around four million households were spending more than three percent of income on water services.
Contributed
Professor emeritus Jonathan Bradshaw contributed to the report, along with Dr Ana Castro in the Department of Health Sciences and Andrew White at CCW.
Professor Bradshaw said: “We’ve been analysing water poverty since 2012 but this is the first of a series of reports commissioned by the Consumer Council for Water.
“We need to trace the impact of the rising price of water on households, so we'll be updating this work on an annual basis over a period when water prices are due to increase by about 40 percent above inflation.”
Higher
The report also found that levels of water poverty are higher among ethnic minority communities, single working age adults and single parents. It found differing rates of water poverty across the water company regions, with some areas showing higher levels of water poverty than others, highlighting that affordability challenges are not evenly distributed across England and Wales.
CCW says that by undertaking the analysis annually, it will be possible to track poverty rates over time and provide insight on the impact of rising water bills and the effectiveness of support from water companies such as local social tariff schemes.
