Polluting water chiefs ‘rewarded for failure’
Executives receive ‘special additional’ award in year firm pumped sewage into watercourses 17,000 times
Two water bosses were “rewarded for failure” as they were handed nearly £1million despite polluting rivers. Peter Simpson, Anglian Water’s chief executive, and Steve Buck, its chief financial officer, were paid more than £2.2 million in bonuses in total last year. The payments were made in the same year that £200,000 was withheld from their regular bonuses for poor environmental performance. The year before last, Anglian Water spilt untreated sewage 17,428 times.
TWO water bosses were “rewarded for failure” as they were handed nearly £1 million despite polluting rivers.
The Anglian Water executives were paid a total of £925,000 as an “additional special bonus” last year because of challenges caused by lockdowns, flooding and higher demand for water.
The payments were made in the same year that £200,000 was withheld from their regular bonuses for poor environmental performance, Daily Telegraph analysis found.
This paper has launched a Clean Rivers campaign to stop water companies, industrial agriculture and urban waste from polluting England’s beauty spots.
It comes after Ofwat, the water regulator, told firms to ensure poor environmental performance was reflected in executive pay, amid concern about sewage pollution in rivers and seas.
Anglian Water’s chief executive, Peter Simpson, and chief financial officer Steve Buck were paid more than £2.2million in bonuses in total, as well as their combined base pay of over £900,000, company records show.
They took a 10 per cent cut in their bonuses after the company’s environmental performance dropped in 2019 to make it a “below-average company”, according to the Environment Agency.
But the company’s annual report also said the pay committee had “reflected on the exceptional and unprecedented challenges the company had faced across the year and the outstanding leadership by the executive directors over this period” and “felt an additional special bonus” was deserved.
Data from the Environment Agency show that Anglian Water spilled untreated sewage 17,428 times in 2020 for a total duration of 170,547 hours.
In January, the Environmental Audit Committee of MPS said water company bosses should have their bonuses cut for illegally polluting rivers.
Philip Dunne, Tory MP for Ludlow and chairman of the committee, said: “Water companies have a duty to safeguard the environment, yet all too often are the culprits of appalling pollution.
“While our committee welcomes the reductions in serious pollution incidents which water companies have achieved, we must get to the position of zero serious incidents by 2030.
“We must not reward failure: that is why our committee recommended that Ofwat reviews its powers to clamp down on executive bonuses, if steps aren’t taken to address pollution caused by water companies.
“I am pleased Ofwat is taking our committee’s recommendation seriously by its recent interest in bonus awards for water company executives.”
A spokesman for Anglian Water said: “We don’t comment on any individual’s remuneration. It is a matter for them and the independent remuneration committee, who ensure pay is benchmarked against other companies and industries.”