| Category | Key issues | Impact | AMWS response |
|---|
This register is the horizon scan required by Clause 4.1 of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001: the external issues relevant to A M Water Services Limited’s purpose. It is deliberately wide, so that nothing arrives unseen. What these factors mean for AMWS is analysed in APP_03.
A critical issue is a theme drawn from the scan. Most span more than one category and more than one lens, and the categories each comes from are named against it.
| Critical issue and the categories it spans | Routed to | Where it is held |
|---|---|---|
| Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 Regulator scrutiny passes down through water-company licence conditions; contractors see a supplier-audit uplift. Political Regulatory EnvironmentLegal Core Sector Legislation | Funded action |
|
| Cunliffe Review Could redesign the AMP delivery model. Outcomes due late 2025–26. Political Government Policy | Monitored only |
|
| AMP8 pipeline, £104bn 2025–30 Determines the volume of work AMWS’s clients fund. It places no duty on AMWS and is not in the legal register. Political Regulatory EnvironmentPolitical Political StabilityEconomic Industry Cycles | Monitored only |
|
| Wage inflation and skills shortage Sector labour-cost inflation, with the Employment Rights Act raising HR-administration cost. Economic Labour Market | Another register |
|
| Environmental awareness and ESG in tendering Carbon reduction is a measured environmental objective in its own right. Social Environmental AwarenessEnvironmental Stakeholder Values | Funded action |
|
| Employment Rights Act 2025 Day-one rights reset HR practice. Policy and manager training required. Economic Labour MarketLegal Employment Law | Another register |
|
| Building Safety and CDM perimeter CDM duty-holder status has to be settled for each engagement before work starts. Legal Building Safety & CDM | Register + action |
|
| ISO 14001:2026 transition A three-year window open now; the gap analysis and update cost need budgeting. Legal Industry Standards | Register + action |
|
| Climate change physical impacts Insurance premium pressure, project-delay risk and business-continuity relevance. Environmental Climate Change | Another register |
|
| Environmental regulation density Biodiversity Net Gain, SuDS and the PFAS restriction landing in one window. Environmental Biodiversity & LandEnvironmental Chemicals — Emerging | Another register |
|
This register holds only work the management system is accountable for: a clause of ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or ISO 45001, a statutory duty, or a scheme AMWS is bound by. Commercial decisions — pricing, market positioning, recruitment — are business matters for the Directors and are not carried here.
| # | Action | Owner | Target | What requires it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-01 | Pass the Alcumus ISOQAR surveillance audit | Sean Ashton + Directors | 08/10/2026 | ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001 certification |
| S-02 | Cyber Essentials certification | Aaron Mason + Sean Ashton | 31/12/2026 | APP_10 L33 · UK GDPR / DUAA 2025 · RA_HO_05 |
| S-03 | Confirm CDM duty-holder status and client assurance requirements | Sean Ashton | Before first works order | CDM 2015 · SOP 5.5 |
| S-06 | Reduce carbon against the 2025 baseline | Aaron Mason | 01/12/2026 | ISO 14001 6.2 · APP_11 E3 |
| S-09 | ISO 9001:2026 transition plan | Sean Ashton | 31/01/2027 | ISO 9001 certification |
An action is held by whatever drives it, and appears in one register only. Legal and regulatory obligations sit at APP_10 and APP_06; risk-assessment actions at APP_07; measured objectives at APP_11. All route to the September Management Review.
| Role | Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Aaron Mason · Leanne Mason Directors | Own the scan and confirm the critical issues at the September Management Review |
| Sean Ashton HSQE Consultant | Maintains the scan and routes each critical issue to where it is held |
Approved by the Directors and reviewed annually at the September Management Review, and by exception when a factor changes materially.
| Issue | Date | Approved by | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01/06/2024 | Aaron Mason, Director | Initial issue. |
| 2 | 01/06/2025 | Aaron Mason, Director | Annual review. |
| 3 | 19/09/2025 | Aaron Mason, Director | Formatting refresh per IMS standards. |
| 4 | 01/06/2026 | Aaron Mason, Director | Full external-environment refresh. Review cycle re-aligned to June. [NEW 2026] / [UPDATED 2026] tags applied inline. |
| 5 | 09/09/2026 | Aaron Mason, Director | Strategic actions consolidated here; measures and a progress record added. |
| 6 | 27/09/2026 | Aaron Mason, Director | Scope restated to legal, regulatory and standards requirements. Pricing, AMP8 framework positioning, recruitment and the succession bench withdrawn as commercial matters for the Directors. AMP8 recorded as context: it places no duty on AMWS. |