Water firm defers payment of £2.5m awards

THAMES Water has opted not to pay more than £2m in retention awards to more than 20 of its top executives this month.

Its remuneration committee has decided to defer about £2.46m in payouts until further notice following deliberations among directors.

The decision comes as the company races to finalise a multi-billion-pound rescue led by its largest group of creditors.

Chris Weston, Thames Water’s chief executive, is already the subject of a bonus “ban” imposed by the regulator, Ofwat, under new rules preventing payouts at water companies which are failing to meet environmental, financial resilience or consumer standards.

He is not among the 21 executives eligible for the retention payments.

Thames Water still seeks Ofwat’s approval for a deal that will involve creditors injecting about £5bn into the business.

They would also write off billions of pounds in debt they are owed in return for greater leniency from regulators over future environmental penalties and targets. Without an agreement, Thames Water would effectively be nationalised through a process called a Special Administration Regime. In the summer, Sky News revealed that the government was lining up FTI Consulting to draw up contingency plans for such an outcome.

A spokesman for Thames Water said: “The management retention programme remains paused until further notice. None of the retention payments have been funded by customers.”