• ACTis has raised one flag for VOCMA and placed two under monitoring.
• VOCMA is a relatively new organisation and is still transitioning from DWS. VOCMA’s issues largely centre on financial governance, over which it has limited control. In 2024/25, DWS provided this function, which raises financial governance issues (see the ACTis DWS Report). Accountability lines have been blurred between the two institutions during the transition, although VOCMA has sought to demonstrate accountability through its focus on cooperation and a targeted action plan following its negative external audit outcome.
• The flags under monitoring reflect administrative weaknesses in VOCMA, not deliberate coordination by officials.
• VOCMA is showing weak performance in core areas. Response times for 80% of pollution incidents exceeded 78 hours, and only 95 of the targeted 208 water users were monitored for compliance.