Water firm bosses forgo bonuses over poor service

Chief executive Sarah Bentley received a performance-related bonus of £496,000 last year

Two Thames Water executives have said they will give up their annual bonuses due to the firm's poor performance.

Chief executive Sarah Bentley previously received £496,000 in performance-related bonuses in 2022, the company said.

Chief finance officer Alastair Cochran, who was paid £298,000 in bonuses last year, will also decline all performance-related pay this year.

The company did not disclose bonuses for other directors, adding that the two executives had made personal decisions.

Extinction Rebellion staged a protest over sewage discharges outside Thames Water's headquarters in March

In a statement, Thames Water said "extraordinary energy costs" and "two severe weather events" had affected customer service and environmental performance in 2022/23.

Ms Bentley said: “I am proud of the work my team is doing in starting to address the poor state of our asset base and unacceptable standards of service for our customers.

“Nevertheless, the turnaround plan is not yet where I want it to be. Against this backdrop it simply doesn’t feel right to take my bonus this year.”

The firm said it was in the second year of an eight-year turnaround plan to address ageing and deteriorating infrastructure.

It said its achievements over the past 12 months included the launch of a £1.6bn programme to prevent sewage discharges into rivers.

The firm said it had also moved its customer call centre from South Africa to Swindon and expanded its leak repair team.

In the future it said it would match bonuses more closely to customer service and environmental performance rather than financial results.

Ms Bentley said: “It is right that England’s biggest water company leads the way in setting a remuneration structure which focuses management on tackling the most pressing challenges."