Water company executives were awarded bumper bonuses last year – totalling £9.1million – despite sewage spills into waterways more than doubling last year.
The bosses of disgraced firms received more than £20million in total, including basic pay, pension contributions and bonuses.
Analysis of Company House records by the Liberal Democrats, found water firms including Thames Water, Severn Trent and South West Water all increased their bonus pool for executives, despite polluting waterways with raw sewage while at the same time around a fifth of all drinking water is lost in leaky pipes before reaching the tap.
Records show 2023 was also a bumper year for the amount of sewage dumped into waterways, with Environment Agency data revealing more than 3.6m hours of sewage were spilled, up 105 per cent year-on-year.
The biggest bonus payout for executives from England and Wales 11 biggest water firms overall was by Severn Trent, who paid its top executives an eye-watering £3.3million in bonuses.
Water company chiefs were awarded with bumper bonuses totalling £9.1million last year, analysis has shown (pictured: Ariel View of Minworth Sewage Treatment Works in the Midlands)
Severn Trent plc chief executive Liv Garfield’s pay deal included a £584,000 bonus, with her total pay adding up to £3.18million
Severn’s chief executive Liv Garfield’s pay deal alone included a £584,000 bonus bringing her total pay to £3.18 million once her salary of £799,000 and other benefits including pensions and long term bonus plans are included.
United Utilities’ CEO Louise Beardmore pocketed a bonus of £420,000 bringing her total pay up to £1.4 million.
The firm dumped 10million litres into Lake Windermere in February this year according to the BBC.
Meanwhile beleaguered Thames Water – which is close to collapse as it struggles under more than £15 billion of debts – nearly doubled bonuses to executives from £746,000 in 2022/2023 to a staggering £1.3m 2023/2024.
This is despite Thames Water’s CEO Sarah Bentley quitting halfway through the year following financial issues.
Thames’ chief financial officer Alastair Cochran was paid a £446,000 bonus bringing his total pay package up £1.3 million.
Chris Weston, the incoming Thames CEO received a £195,000 bonus for being in charge for just three months on top of an annual salary deal worth £850,000, £102,000 in yearly pension payments, and a £15,000 car allowance – coming to £1.1million.
Susan Davy, the boss of South West Water’s parent firm Pennon saw her total pay package go up to £860,000 from £543,000 the previous year.
However Ms Davy’s declined her £298,000 bonus amid anger over the company’s response to the parasite outbreak in Devon – when 17,000 customers were told to boil their water – in May.
Pension contributions for water company executives rose to a new high of £1.7m this year. Thames Water paid its executives £754,000 in pension contributions alone last year.
Base pay for water company executives also remained at over £9m last year, with just one executive at Northumbrian Water paying themselves £421,000.
A graphic showing the huge bonuses accrued by five water company bosses
Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron called the situation a ‘national scandal’, saying ‘the whole thing stinks’
The Lib Dems have called for an immediate ban on all water company bonuses whilst the sewage scandal continues. The party will push for a parliamentary vote for an outright ban on bonuses by tabling an amendment to the government’s Water (Special Measures) Bill.
Lib Dem environment spokesman Tim Farron MP said:‘It is a national scandal that these bonuses are being paid out by firms who disgustingly pollute rivers, lakes and beaches. These executives are pocketing more every year whilst sewage levels rise. Frankly, the whole thing stinks.
‘The last Conservative government shamefully let these disgraced firms get away with it, and now the new government has to step up.
‘These bonuses are an insult to the British public and must be banned straight away. The Liberal Democrats will push for a vote in Parliament to ban these bonuses whilst sewage continues to flow.’
A Water UK spokesperson said: ‘Almost all of these bonuses were paid by shareholders, not customers, but all companies recognise the need to do more to deliver on their plans to support economic growth, build more homes, secure our water supplies and end sewage entering our rivers. We now need the regulator Ofwat to fully approve water companies’ investment plans so that we can get on with it.’