Labour MPs urge Thames Water to recover £2.5 million paid to executives in April

Labour MPs urge Thames Water to recover £2.5m paid to executives in April

Exclusive: Letter to water company sets out demands, including resolving most severe cases of pollution  

Twenty-seven Labour MPs whose constituencies rely on Thames Water have written to the company’s director of corporate finance, Fred Maroudas, demanding the claw-back of £2.5 million in bonuses paid to senior executives this April. The group describes it as “disgusting” that Thames Water has increased household bills to cover its executives’ payouts, while customers continue to suffer service failures and environmental harm.

In their letter, coordinated by Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, the MPs insist the company cancel its next scheduled bonus round in September and instead channel those funds into upgrading water infrastructure. They also call on Thames Water to address the most serious pollution incidents and operational deficiencies raised by constituents, withdraw its appeal for reduced wastewater fines from regulator Ofwat, and agree to meet with MPs by year-end to discuss local issues.

Yang, along with Labour colleagues Will Stone, Peter Lamb and Sean Woodcock, personally handed the letter to Maroudas at a meeting in Reading on Friday morning. A Thames Water spokesperson described the session as “very constructive,” clarifying that no chief executive has received any performance-based pay this year. They explained that a senior management retention scheme was set up under the company’s liquidity extension “to retain leadership during a complex recapitalisation,” but that payments under that scheme have been paused and none have been charged to customers. The spokesperson added that the company’s CEO is not part of the retention plan and has received no related payments.

Thames Water supplies 16 million customers across London and southeast England but has posted deep losses—£1.65 billion in the year to March—and carries a debt burden of £16.8 billion. In May, Ofwat imposed a record £122.7 million fine for breaches in wastewater discharge regulations and improper shareholder payments. Ministers have also prohibited six water companies, including Thames Water, from awarding bonuses to their most senior executives for this financial year following a series of major pollution events. Thames Water’s chief executive, Chris Weston, voluntarily declined his 300 percent bonus this year, acknowledging last month that the business is “extremely stressed” and that recovery will take five to ten years.

Yuan Yang highlighted that more than 140 constituents have contacted her office detailing unresolved leaks, billing errors and disruptive roadworks. She noted that Thames Water bills have jumped by 31 percent on average—from £488 to £639 annually—and warned that customers continue to bear the cost of the company’s failings. Leyton and Wanstead MP Calvin Bailey added that his constituents face repeated sewage backups and river pollution, including incidents near a local nursery.

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