Some water companies are instructing bailiffs as they try to recover customers’ debt more than 6,000 times in a single year, new data reveals.

The information gathered by a committee of MPs has not been freely available before and reveals huge variations in water companies’ use of the tactic.

Wessex Water have not been using bailiffs at all over the last decade, and Welsh Water has used them less than 1,000 times in every year from 2019 to 2025.

But Southern Water instructed bailiffs 15,707 times in 2019, more than 6,000 times in 2020, more than 5,000 times in 2023, more than 8,000 times in 2024, and more than 4,000 times last year.

The figures collected by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee show Yorkshire Water, United Utilities and Severn Trent as the other companies to have used bailiffs more than 6,000 times in a year.

And the MPs also highlighted South West Water/Pennon and Northumbrian Water as being among the most prolific bailiff users.

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The Efra committee used its position to reveal the figures because water companies are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act “despite providing an essential public service”, chairman Alistair Carmichael said.

He said it was “concerning to see the extent of their use of bailiffs” and the data “should be seen in the context of various cost-of-living shocks that have hit households over recent years”.

“For any family or individual to be subject to legal action is no small matter and can be a cause of severe stress and anxiety,” Mr Carmichael added.

“We would urge any company to review its practices and ensure they are as sparing and compassionate as possible.”

In 2022, Severn Trent instructed bailiffs 11,574 times and used them more than 7,000 occasions the year after. United Utilities has used bailiffs more than 6,000 times every year since 2021; and Yorkshire Water did so last year and in 2024.

The committee found that once adjusted for the size of their local population, the water companies that made the most use of bailiffs in 2025 were South West Water/Pennon, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water.

Most of the 11 English and Welsh water and wastewater companies fell within a range of 500 to 4,500 bailiff enforcements for the year 2024-2025.

Bailiffs, or enforcement agents, are instructed to act by a company following a court order.

Customers on the Priority Services Register or identified as ill, disabled or elderly are ususally exempt from court orders.

Firms such as Northumbrian said they do not use bailiffs for customers who are known to be in receipt of means-tested benefits. However, Southern Water told the committee that these customers were eligible for litigation.

Questions raised

Overall use of bailiffs across the industry peaked in 2023 and 2024, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That raised questions, Mr Carmichael said: “Why did bailiff use increase so rapidly after the pandemic? Did anyone look into it at the time?

The Council for Water said it would be examining the committee’s data.

Andy White, the council’s senior leader for social policy said: “The use of bailiffs should be an absolute last resort and only in instances where a water company can clearly evidence a customer is persistently and deliberately not paying their bill.

“They should not be used where a customer is in financially vulnerable circumstances.”

Companies’ responses

A Yorkshire Water said “enforcement action is a last resort” and was only used against customers who had “the ability to pay their bill but are choosing not to”.

United Utilities spokesman said it only took court action to against customers it believed had “the financial resources to pay their bill”.

Southern Water said it worked hard to give “customers who are struggling get the support they need” and added that it relied on bill payments to deliver service improvements.

South West Water said: “The Efra figures don’t reflect actual bailiff visits – they also include non-visit actions like payment plans. We only ever use enforcement action as a last resort. Our priority is always to support customers who are struggling.”

Severn Trent told the MPs it had received positive feedback from the Consumer Council for Water on the way it managed customers who fell into debt.

The company only sought legal action against “the tiny minority of customers who neither pay their bills nor, despite extensive efforts on our part, engage with us constructively”.

Northumbrian Water told the committee it was “committed to protecting customers in vulnerable circumstances, promoting affordability, and ensuring enforcement is used only as an absolute last resort and in line with regulatory expectations and good practice”.