We're delighted to have retained the national Framework to supply retail water and waste water billing services to the Scottish Public Sector. I'm really looking forward to building on our existing partnership and continuing to raise the bar for our Scottish Public Sector customers.
The new Framework contract is based on bringing you a further enhanced suite of services, which you can read more about in your Welcome pack and at business-stream.co.uk/publicsectorscotland. I hope you were able to join one of the Welcome Webinars to find out a little more. If you weren't available, we'll ensure a recording is uploaded to the Useful Resources Library soon.
As we approach the start of the new Framework from 1 April, we'd like to ensure we conclude the existing Framework with no outstanding issues or balances, so we'd appreciate your support to clear any outstanding balances you may have.
Take care,
Debbie Malcolm
Framework Manager
Business Stream retains UK's largest commercial water tender
We're delighted to have been awarded the Scottish Government’s Water and Waste Water Services Framework contract. Jo Dow, Chief Executive of Business Stream, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to have secured this Framework. We have a vast amount of experience of working with the public sector to deliver cost savings and environmental efficiencies and we’re looking forward to continuing our partnership. Our focus will remain on delivering water efficiencies to help further reduce costs, while building on the community benefits and Fair Work First programme we’ve delivered to date”.
You should have received our Welcome Email earlier in March, providing you with your Welcome Pack, Site List, Options Form, and key actions and dates. The deadline to return your reviewed Site List and Options form to us was Thursday, 14 March.
If you haven't already reviewed and sent back the relevant documents, and you need support, please contact your Account Manager directly or email us at framework2024@business-stream.co.uk. Our team will be happy to help.
Our dedicated Public Sector Scotland website has frequently asked questions (FAQs) and a Useful Resources Library to help answer any queries you may have.
Within your Welcome Pack, we mentioned that we’re launching some enhancements as part of the new Framework and we’ll communicate these to you as they become available. If you join the Framework after 1 April 2024, your Account Manager will share these updates with you. Upcoming service enhancements include:
Increasing our Water Efficiency Fund to £100k per year
Free AMR on loggable meters 30mm+ & discounts on 25mm and below
Free water butt for every primary school in Scotland
100 days of free leak detection surveys
Regular regional water forums
Webchat available on My Business Stream
A suite of new interactive reports
Enhanced advance payment options and discounts
Our partnership with Ecologi
At the end of 2023, we became certified as carbon neutral by partnering with global climate specialists, Ecologi, to invest in projects that support United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The partnership will contribute to two carefully selected projects through Ecologi.
Mataven Forest A nature-based project to protect the Mataven Forest in Colombia which covers 1.86 million hectares and is home to more than 40,000 plant species.
Cookstoves in Kenya A society-based project contributing to the provision of more than 380,000 cookstoves in Kenya, which will help avoid 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and support the creation of over 1,000 jobs for the local community.
We've increased our Water Efficiency Fund to £100,000
Due to the continued success of our Water Efficiency Fund, and the number of PSS customers who have benefited from it, we're delighted to let you know that we've increased the value of the Fund from £50,000 to £100,000 per year.
We'll formally launch the increased Water Efficiency Fund for 2024/25 later this year and we'll be in touch to let you know as soon as applications are open.
Our MSP visit on Modern Apprenticeship Week
As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week, we were delighted to welcome Sarah Boyack, MSP, to our offices on Monday, 4 March.
During the hour, Sarah got the chance to find out more about our Modern Apprenticeship (MA) programme and heard first-hand from some of our current and former MAs about their experiences. Shirley Manley, Skills Investment Adviser from Skills Development Scotland, kindly helped coordinate the visit.
2023 Water Forum
Questions and answers
As part of a drive to understand your needs and ensure we continue to improve the services that we provide to you, we conducted a series of Water Forum events for some of our Public Sector Scotland (PSS) customers during 2023. We'll be hosting more of these events over the course of the new Framework.
We recently got in touch with you to provide a collated list of Q&As covered at the forums, relating to specific challenges and opportunities experienced by our PSS customers. The Q&As cover several themes, including billing, metering, account management and water efficiency.
Charitable exemption
2023/24
If you're a Charity, you may be eligible to apply for an exemption from your water and/or waste water charges for the year from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
The deadline to submit an exemption application for the 2023-24 period is 31 March 2024 so we recommend you apply as soon as possible before this date.
If you have multiple sites with us which are eligible for charitable exemption, please submit individual applications for each one.
We recently contacted you by email to let you know about some changes to your water and waste water charges for 2024/25, following confirmation that Scottish Water's wholesale charges would be increasing by 8.8% from 1 April 2024.
We'll be in touch with you again before 1 April 2024 to provide you with a copy of the Scottish Government - Water and Waste Water Billing Services Framework Tariffs document, where you can view all of your charges.
The charges will be applied automatically from the billing period starting 1 April 2024, so there's nothing you need to do.
Getting in touch
We’re keen to find out what you’d like to see featured in our upcoming newsletters so please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
If you have any questions about your account, please speak to your Account Manager, call us, or send an email using the buttons below.
