Welsh Water announces plans to cut 500 jobs

Welsh Water plans to cut about 500 jobs over the next two years.

This represents about 12% of the company’s 4,000-strong workforce but Welsh Water said it would not affect front-line services.

The not-for-profit organisation said the intention was to increase the efficiency of “back office” and management positions.

The firm hopes most of the job losses will follow a process of voluntary redundancy and chief executive Peter Perry recognised it was an “unsettling time” for colleagues but said the company would handle the process with “care, compassion and fairness”.

He added: “Customers rightly expect us to invest in improving our services and to keep our own costs to a minimum – and that’s exactly what this programme will achieve.

“We are acting now so we can protect services for customers, investing more in our networks and the environment and ensure that as much of our customers’ money as possible goes into the things that matter most – reliable water and wastewater services and support when people need us.”

The company is also planning to spend £4bn on its frontline services over the next five years, with more than half of that money going on its environmental performance.