Wessex Water Executives Awarded £50,000 in Additional Compensation Despite Labour Government’s Bonus Prohibition
The top officials at Wessex Water were granted £50,000 in extra compensation, previously undisclosed, from a parent company in the same year when the utility was prohibited from distributing bonuses, the Guardian has uncovered. Chief Executive Ruth Jefferson and Chief Financial Officer Andy Pymer received £24,000 and £27,000 respectively in the 12-month period ending June 2025, according to a representative for Wessex Water’s parent organization, the Malaysian YTL group. These payments originated from Wessex Water Ltd, the parent entity of Wessex Water Services Ltd, which serves 2.9 million customers in the south-west of England. YTL stated that the payments should not be classified as bonuses. YTL had initially refrained from disclosing the entity that made these payments. Only after persistent inquiries about the transparency of executive compensation practices did YTL disclose the details. The additional payments made to Jefferson and Pymer, along with former chief executive Colin Skellett, were reported in the accounts of Wessex Water Services. The accounts stated: “Colin Skellett, Andy Pymer and Ruth Jefferson received emoluments for services to other group companies which are disclosed in the financial statements for those companies.” However, the specific amounts of these fees were not detailed in the accounts of any of the group’s companies. This compensation was in addition to the regulated company salaries amounting to £440,000 for Jefferson and £249,000 for Pymer. Executive pay in the water industry has faced heightened scrutiny following the government’s prohibition of bonuses for leaders at companies involved in criminal pollution cases. Six water companies faced restrictions on bonus payments last year. The government included Wessex due to a criminal conviction related to a sewage pumping station failure six years prior, which led to the death of over 2,000 fish and resulted in a £500,000 fine for the company. The prohibition was directed at its chief executive and chief financial officer. The representative mentioned that Jefferson and Pymer received payments from Wessex Water Ltd between July 2024 and October 1, 2024. Jefferson’s salary was not subjected to the bonus ban before this latter date, which marks her tenure as chief executive. The spokesperson clarified that neither executive “received any bonus from any source” during the fiscal year.
“Wessex Water has consistently maintained transparency regarding its financial practices and adheres to regulatory accounting guidelines in its publications,” the spokesperson stated. Sarah Dyke, the Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesperson and MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, remarked: “This lack of transparency surrounding executive compensation further emphasizes the urgent need to regulate water companies effectively. Wessex Water has evaded accountability for environmental damage and has taken advantage of customers for far too long. They have been careless, polluting beaches and rivers in the south-west with sewage and wasting millions of liters of water due to leaky pipes.” The Wessex representative responded that the company “does not engage in ‘careless pollution’ of beaches and rivers,” explaining that its storm overflow systems are “part of an outdated sewerage infrastructure” that is currently undergoing investment for upgrades. Members of Parliament and Ofwat, the regulatory authority for water companies in England and Wales, have previously voiced concerns regarding the opacity of payments made to water executives from other associated companies. The Guardian reported last month that YTL awarded Skellett a £170,000 bonus within the same fiscal year ending June 2025. YTL asserted that the bonus was unrelated to Skellett’s role at Wessex Water during the specified fiscal year, attributing it instead to YTL’s property dealings. Furthermore, Yorkshire Water’s owners provided its chief executive, Nicola Shaw, with £1.3 million in undisclosed extra remuneration via an offshore company. Shaw was permitted to retain this pay after Ofwat determined it wasn’t related to performance, though she acknowledged that failing to disclose payments from a separate entity was a “mistake”, following outrage from politicians. Jefferson ascended to the position of lead for Wessex Water after her tenure as chief compliance officer and general counsel. Her compensation from Wessex Water Services in the 2024-25 fiscal year was £440,000. This year, she is set to receive a base salary of £590,000 prior to any bonuses. Pymer’s compensation from Wessex Water Services the previous year was £249,000. YTL’s account of the source of the additional payments to Jefferson and Pymer evolved over several weeks. Initially, the YTL representative claimed: “The payments did not originate from any specific company; they came from YTL UK as the overarching parent organization for the various businesses in the nation.” No company by the name “YTL UK” exists in the UK companies register. After ongoing inquiries, the organization later conceded that the payments were indeed made by Wessex Water Ltd, which has a direct relationship with Wessex Water Services within the group’s complex corporate hierarchy. The accounts of Wessex Water Ltd did not mention any payments made to Jefferson and Pymer. Nonetheless, the spokesperson indicated that Wessex Water Services had not made an erroneous statement, as the payments were encompassed “within the aggregate payroll costs of the group,” which includes salaries for 3,200 employees. The spokesperson added that there was no “statutory or regulatory requirement to separate the costs out” since they were not directors of the parent company. Skellett has previously stated that water executives should be compensated substantially only if they deliver satisfactory performance. Speaking at a union meeting in 2024, he asserted that the “buck stops” with the chief executive. “We receive a substantial amount of money,” he noted, according to Utility Week. “If we fail to meet expectations, we should not receive that payment.”
Published: 2026-01-10 08:00:00
source: www.theguardian.com
