Entitlements

When your water company owes you money

By Alan Redbourn. Published 5 September 2026. Sources checked 2 September 2026.

Water company compensation in England went up on 2 July 2025, described by the government as the first uplift in 25 years and an increase of up to tenfold, with the scheme also expanded to cover new types of failure.¹ Low pressure is now £50 a time, up to £250 a year.¹ Internal sewer flooding starts at £300.¹

That date is the only thing you need to check before trusting anything else you read on this subject. A page written in 2023 is not slightly out. On some lines it is wrong by a factor of 10.

What you are owed, England

Sources on every line below. Amounts checked 2 September 2026.^1121122112

Low pressure, and where the duty stops

A household suffering consistent low water pressure in England is automatically entitled to up to £250 a year, paid as £50 per occurrence up to 5 times a year, increased from £25 on 2 July 2025.¹

Before you claim, find out whose pipe is at fault. The Consumer Council for Water states that companies should maintain a minimum pressure in the communication pipe of seven metres static head, or 0.7 bar. The communication pipe comes off the water main, belongs to the company, and ends at the outside stop valve. The company has no obligation to meet pressure requirements inside a private supply pipe, whether shared or not, or inside the property.³

So the low pressure in an upstairs bathroom caused by a furred-up private pipe is yours to fix. Claiming for it wastes a month and can end with a bill for the visit.

Supply off, and notice not given

Where a water supply is not restored on time the payment is £50 plus a further £50 for each subsequent 12-hour period, capped at twice the annual charges. Before 2 July 2025 that was £20 plus £10.¹

A separate £50 is owed where the company fails to give the required notice of a supply interruption.² Two failures, two payments.

Sewer flooding

This is where the money is. For internal sewer flooding the payment is the household's annual sewerage charge, subject to a minimum of £300 and a maximum of £2,000, doubled from £150 and £1,000 on 2 July 2025.¹ For external sewer flooding it is half the annual sewerage charge, minimum £150 and maximum £1,000, doubled from £75 and £500.¹

Note the shape of it. The payment is a function of your own bill, so a large household on a high sewerage charge is owed more than a small one for the same event.

The small ones that add up

£40 where the company fails to make an appointment as required, and £50 where it fails to keep one.² £40 where it fails to respond to a written complaint or an account query within 10 working days.² From 1 October 2025, £40 where the meter is not read within 13 months and £80 for each subsequent 13-month period.¹ From the same date, £40 where a water quality notice applies, plus £20 for each additional 24 hours.¹

A missed appointment is a diary entry and a photograph. It is the easiest £50 on this list.

Wales is not England

The Consumer Council for Water publishes the Wales figures separately.² Making an appointment £20, keeping an appointment £20, account queries £20, low pressure £25 once per year, notice of a supply interruption £20 and £50 for business customers, supply restoration £20 plus £10 for each full 24-hour period, internal sewer flooding a minimum of £150 capped at £1,000, and external sewer flooding a minimum of £75 and a maximum of £500.²

Those are the pre-uplift England amounts. A household in Wales is owed half or less than a household in England for the same failure. The Welsh low pressure standard is once a year rather than five times, and the notice payment there requires the customer to claim it rather than being paid automatically.²

What this page does not cover

The Guaranteed Standards figures above are recorded for England, with the Wales set stated separately by the Consumer Council for Water.² Scotland and Northern Ireland have different arrangements and are not sourced here, so they are not stated here.

Searches for this usually name a company. The amounts above are the published Guaranteed Standards, not any single company's own policy, so check your own company's published scheme before you assume it pays the minimum and no more.

Questions