Water giant Severn Trent preparing to cut 500 jobs in order to keep customers' bills low until 2020
Water giant Severn Trent is preparing to cut 500 jobs in order to keep customers’ bills low until 2020.
The company has submitted spending plans to water regulator Ofwat that will keep bill rises at or below inflation for the next five years.
An answer is expected from Ofwat within the next two weeks, but if approved the move will have to be funded by £400m of cost savings.
Stopping the leak: The scope for job losses has come about after Severn Trent merged its back office operations for water and sewerage works
The group has begun consulting on job losses with 500 middle managers – out of a total workforce of 6,000. The scope for job losses has come about after it merged its back office operations for water and sewerage works.
‘This will make a significant contribution towards lower customer bills,’ said chief executive Liv Garfield, who joined earlier this year from BT.
It came as the group reported a steep fall in half-year profits. Pre-tax profits fell from £191.2m to £138.2m after the previous year’s figures were inflated by a tax windfall. Revenues climbed from £922.4m to £947.6m.
Shares fell 7p to 2055p.
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