Ofwat and Consumer Council for Water State of the Water Nation Survey

Award outcome

Description

We are working together to develop insights on customers' knowledge, actions and behaviour. This will inform our communications and policy work. The ITT is for quantitative research with household water customers (i.e. household water bill payers, not business customers). The survey will look at customer knowledge, engagement, actions and priorities in relation to water. This includes questions on how they use water, their understanding of the water industry and their water company, and their perceptions of this. Objectives: The objectives of this survey are: • Develop a strong evidence base for what household customers know, think and do in relation to water and the water sector - set this out in context of key indicators; • Provide evidence that can be analysed by England/Wales and a range of socio-demographics; • Develop questions that can be used for a longer-term tracker; • Be more than the sum of its parts: use cross analysis to better understand groups of customers and their similarities and differences. The survey should complement existing research. CCW conduct an annual 'Water Matters' survey. Questions should only be repeated on both surveys if they are particularly essential for cross-tabulations. Approach: We expect the research to include: 1. An online survey of approx. 15-20 minutes. The survey should consist of: • A nationally representative sample of at least 2,000 customers (bill payers or joint bill payers) in England and 500 customers in Wales. • A booster sample of 300 ethnic minority customers - including Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities. 2. A smaller telephone survey of 100 interviews among parts of the population who are less well represented online (the digitally excluded). The telephone survey for the digitally excluded would be broadly comparable to the online survey, but developed to draw out the perceptions and experiences of people who are digitally excluded, and the questions adapted where necessary to work well in a telephone format. The telephone sample should have good geographical coverage of England and Wales but would not be representative. The telephone survey is expected to be 15-20 minutes. Scope: The questionnaire is likely to include questions on: • Knowledge and engagement • Favourability and trust • Priorities for the services provided by water/sewerage companies • Awareness of and need for specific additional services provided by water companies • Behaviour - water use and disposal of things down the sink or toilet • Environmental priorities

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