History of the Trust

In 1995, Anglian Water announced its intention to establish a £2million experimental trust fund to help those unable to pay their water and sewerage charges. The Anglian Water Trust Fund was launched in 1996.

During previous years, Anglian Water Plc had made positive attempts to assist those who were genuinely unable to meet water and sewerage charges. Systems had been established in an attempt to enable customers to make realistic offers of repayments where possible and also for improved methods of budgeting for current and future usage.

Despite this, it was recognised that there were a significant number of people throughout the region who were experiencing severe financial hardship and were unable to make any offer of repayment at all. Anglian Water's reaction was to enable the establishment of a wholly independent trust fund aimed at reducing debt within the communities served by the water company.

In order to turn this into a reality, six independent Trustees were appointed to oversee the development of the Trust.

The appointed Trustees were eager to ensure that the Trust fulfilled its role to the best of its ability. It was obvious that this could not be achieved by awarding grants solely to clear arrears of water and sewerage charges. Trustees therefore determined that grants should also be made available to address other household bills such as rent and fuel and to relieve pressure on household budgets by financing the purchase of essential household items such as beds and cookers (also referred to as Further Assistance Payments.)

Trustees also recognised that a system of grants to individuals and families, whilst providing relief, would not fully assist individuals and families trapped in multiple debt situations and that the network of money advice services within the region would need to be strengthened. Grants were therefore made available to voluntary organisations to enable them to develop money advice services and to provide education in debt prevention. (See Grants to Organisations pages) .

The Trust awarded its first grants to individuals and to organisations in September 1996.

Present Day

Anglian Water continues to support the Trust and early in 2005 committed funding to the Trust for a further three years securing the Trust’s future and continuation of its important work until at least April 2008. Three Valleys Water has also donated to the Trust annually since 2001/02. Cambridge Water started donating to the Trust in 2005.

Tendring Hundred Water gave donations in the years 2001/02 to 2003/04 at which time the company started donating to the Eos Foundation together with five other water companies. The Eos Foundation operates within the same shared programme of grant making for individuals and families as AWTF. Details can be found at www.eosfoundation.org.uk