Corrupt, Shit-Spilling UK Water Companies Sent 10s Of 1,000s Of Bailiffs For Unpaid Bills, Most For Less Than $1,000 [View all]

Tens of thousands of people a year have bailiffs sent to their homes by water companies in England and Wales, data shows. Many thousands of these visits by debt collectors were for sums worth under £1,000, according to the data released by the House of Commons environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) committee. Bailiffs are debt collectors instructed by a court, who can seize items from those in debt, including electrical items, jewellery or vehicles.

It is a postcode lottery as to whether a water company would send a bailiff to a person’s home to recoup unpaid bills. While Wessex Water has not used bailiffs in 10 years, the water companies that made the most use of bailiffs in 2025 – adjusted for population – were South West Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water.In the financial year 2016-17, Yorkshire Water sent bailiffs to customers’ homes 405 times, but in 2024-25 there were 6,124 bailiff visits.There were also high peaks of overall usage by some companies. In 2022 Severn Trent instructed bailiffs 11,574 times, and in 2019 Southern Water instructed 15,707 bailiffs.

EDIT

The use of bailiffs by water companies that had been found to have broken the law themselves was unfair, the Labour MP John McDonnell said. He said: “Only five directors of water companies have been prosecuted in the last 30 years. Contrast that with the thousands of mainly poor people the water companies set the bailiffs on each year. “The system is more interested in prosecuting families that are struggling to pay their water bills than the company directors responsible for polluting our rivers and seas while lining their pockets from profiteering at the expense of both their customers and our environment.”

Some companies told the committee they were trying to focus the use of bailiffs only on those who could afford to pay their bills but chose not to. Water companies themselves are in a vast amount of debt, which critics have said has made it impossible for them to properly invest in infrastructure. Water companies in England and Wales are now in more than £80bn of debt. The companies are also liable for £200m of environmental fines for actions such as illegal sewage spills.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/06/bailiffs-debt-recovery-homes-water-england-wales