Introduction 

The links at the bottom of this page will take you to the documentation developed by Water UK on behalf of its members to meet the requirements of Ofwat’s Code for Adoption Agreement. The code can be found here.

Links to permitted local variations form the standard documentation are also provided below.

Independent panels have been set up to make recommendations on proposals to change the standard adoption documentation.  More details can be found below.

Sewerage adoption

The new sewerage adoption arrangements came into effect on 1 April 2020.  

The Design and Construction Guidance element of the arrangements has changed since introduction and the latest version is version 2.1.  This is dated 25 May 2021 and is effective as from 1 July 2021.

Independent Sewerage Adoption Panel

A requirement of Ofwat’s Code for adoption agreements is that all requests for changes to the documentation approved by Ofwat be submitted to an independent panel, comprised of an equal number of water companies and customers.  The role of the panel is to make recommendations to Ofwat where it consider that changes to the approved documentation are appropriate.

More information about the Panel, including how to submit a change proposal, can be found here.

Water adoption

The water code documentation was approved by Ofwat on 3 September 2020.  The approved set of documents is set out below.

Independent Water Adoption Panel

A requirement of Ofwat’s Code for adoption agreements is that all requests for changes to the documentation approved by Ofwat be submitted to an independent panel, comprised of an equal number of water companies and customers.  The role of the panel is to make recommendations to Ofwat where it consider that changes to the approved documentation are appropriate.

More information about the Panel, including how to submit a change proposal, can be found here.