SP Engineering Consultancy is the dedicated engineering division of Shirley Parsons, providing expert support to organisations across the water sector.
Last Tuesday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its provisional determinations on the PR24 price controls for five water companies: Anglian, Northumbrian, Southeast, Southern, and Wessex Water.
These follow Ofwat’s final determinations for 2025–2030 and set the stage for AMP8, shaping investment levels, delivery priorities, and workforce capacity across the UK’s water industry for the next five years.
Why this matters.
While the CMA’s decisions are still provisional, they provide early insight into the funding landscape for AMP8.
The five water companies involved had collectively sought a further £1.2 billion in expenditure beyond Ofwat’s final determinations. The CMA’s current view could allow just over £550 million, signalling partial support but continued pressure on budgets and efficiency.
These funding outcomes will directly influence how much the sector can spend on:
- Resilience and environmental improvements
- Net-zero transition and carbon reduction projects
- Network maintenance and leakage reduction
- New asset investment and digital transformation
The final redeterminations, expected in March 2026, will confirm the budgets that drive project pipelines and ultimately define the scale, structure, and sustainability of workforce demand across the UK water sector.
Workforce implications.
With AMP8 projected to be the largest investment period in the water industry’s history, questions are already being asked: Is the workforce ready to deliver, or already stretched?
Delivery success will depend on how well the sector can mobilise capability, control costs, and maintain resilience in the face of fluctuating budgets and rising expectations.
- Efficiency and accountability
Water companies are under greater scrutiny to deploy capital and labour effectively. Workforce plans must demonstrate both value for money and adaptability as funding evolves.
- Flexibility in resourcing
Given possible variations in allowed expenditure, flexible delivery models, such as contingent labour, fixed-scope work packages, and outcome-based frameworks, will be vital to sustain delivery momentum.
- Skills retention and development
Budget constraints increase the importance of training, retention, and knowledge transfer. Maintaining institutional expertise while developing new technical skills will be critical to meeting AMP8 goals.
- Delivery resilience
To deliver the biggest AMP ever, the sector must strengthen its delivery resilience, ensuring teams, frameworks, and partners are ready to adapt to shifting priorities and timelines.
How we can help.
At SP Engineering Consultancy, we’re already helping clients prepare for this challenge. With over three decades of experience supporting the UK water sector, our team has a proven track record in design consultancy under Fixed-Price Option A and NEC3 frameworks, delivering certainty, capability, and compliance from the outset.
We provide end-to-end workforce and delivery solutions that enable water companies and their partners to:
- Build strategic workforce plans aligned with AMP8 delivery priorities
- Rapidly mobilise delivery-ready teams through established frameworks
- Balance cost, capability, and flexibility with proven delivery models
- Strengthen assurance and governance with data-led workforce insights
Our Framework Delivery Director, Teo De La Cruz, explains:
“The CMA’s provisional determinations offer early visibility into what will define AMP8 - a period where efficiency, resilience, and sustainability must align. At Shirley Parsons, we’re not waiting to react; we’re already equipped to deliver. Our teams are in place, our frameworks are proven, and our focus is on helping clients deliver the biggest AMP ever - safely, sustainably, and on time.”
