By Donna Rowe-Merriman, UNISON national secretary for business, community and environment
The government says its new Water White Paper represents a ‘once-in-a-generation’ plan to transform the water sector in England.
But unless ministers are prepared to confront the root causes of the crisis – including the failures of privatisation – it risks becoming yet another missed opportunity to deliver the clean, resilient water system the public deserves.
Across England, the public are angry about sewage pollution, rising bills and failing infrastructure. This is no longer confined to campaign groups or environmental organisations. Communities see rivers polluted, coastlines damaged, and regulators stretched beyond capacity. People are asking: how did we get here? And why does it feel like nothing ever changes?
UNISON represents thousands of workers across privatised water companies and in the Environment Agency. These are the people who keep water flowing, maintain critical infrastructure and protect the environment day in, day out. Their professionalism and expertise underpin the entire system – yet their voices are almost entirely absent from the government’s white paper.
That omission is not just disrespectful; it is a strategic mistake.
The elephant in the room
UNISON warned from the outset that the Independent Water Commission was fundamentally flawed, because renationalisation was excluded as an option.
That exclusion now looks increasingly out of step with experience and public opinion. Decades of asset stripping, excessive dividend payments and debt-heavy financial engineering have constrained investment and contributed to pollution crises across the country.
While the latest price review promises increased infrastructure funding, it cannot erase the structural problems embedded in a model built around shareholder returns.
UNISON’s Clean Water report set out clear recommendations for a system that prioritises public interest over private extraction. These include stronger public accountability, reinvestment of profits into infrastructure and environmental protection, workforce investment to rebuild regulatory capacity, and serious consideration of public ownership models to restore long-term resilience.
A genuine ‘once-in-a-generation’ reform must be willing to examine all options. Refusing to consider renationalisation is not pragmatism – it is political avoidance.
A super-regulator without a plan
Following the Cunliffe Review, Defra proposes to create a single ‘super-regulator’ by merging water functions from Ofwat, the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
Such a significant restructuring could reshape water regulation for decades. Yet the white paper offers remarkably little detail. There is no clear workforce strategy, no meaningful discussion of the impact on jobs, pay or pensions, and no clarity on how staff expertise will be retained during transition.
Trade unions are not mentioned once. Investors, by contrast, appear dozens of times.
If ministers are serious about restoring public confidence, they must start by recognising that regulation is delivered by skilled professionals, not organisational charts.
Environment Agency staff already operate under intense pressure after years of underinvestment. They are acutely aware of how fragmented regulation and profit-driven business models undermine environmental outcomes. Ignoring their expertise while designing sweeping reforms risks weakening the very enforcement capacity the government claims to strengthen.
Workers in water companies face abuse on the streets when water companies’ failing infrastructure collapses and consumers are left without water in their homes – or having to leave their homes due to flooding.
Reform without workers will fail
The white paper repeatedly claims the government wants to address fragmented regulation and enforce tougher standards on water companies. But reforming institutions without engaging the workforce tasked with delivering those changes is unlikely to succeed.
In January 2025, ministers committed to full consultation with workers and trade unions following the Cunliffe and Corry reviews. That promise must be honoured.
The creation of a new regulator will have profound implications for potentially thousands of staff – affecting job security, workloads, professional identity and organisational culture. Early and meaningful engagement is essential to ensure stability and avoid disruption to environmental protections during transition.
Without workforce confidence, reform risks becoming a bureaucratic exercise rather than a genuine transformation.
There’s still a chance
There is no doubt that water regulation needs reform. Fragmented oversight, weak enforcement powers and systemic underinvestment have left the public paying more for a system that delivers less.
Done properly, a new regulatory framework could strengthen accountability, improve environmental outcomes and restore public trust.
But that requires honesty about what has failed, courage to consider structural alternatives, and a genuine partnership with the workforce whose expertise keeps the system functioning.
Fundamental transformation for a water system fit for the 21st century cannot be achieved through rebranding regulators while leaving the underlying model untouched.
If ministers truly want to fix Britain’s water system for good, they must stop tinkering at the edges and start putting the public interest, environmental protection and workers’ expertise at the centre of reform.
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