Wessex Water chief pockets above-inflation pay rise despite bonus ban over sewage spills

A sewage treatment works in Dorset owned by Wessex Water. Photograph: Graham Hunt/Alamy View image in fullscreen A sewage treatment works in Dorset owned by Wessex Water. Photograph: Graham Hunt/Alamy Wessex Water chief pockets above-inflation pay rise despite bonus ban over sewage spills CEO’s pay packet surges to £791,000 as union says public ‘sick of obscene pay’ and bosses ‘feathering own nests’ Wessex Water awarded its chief executive an above-inflation pay increase even as the company was banned from paying bonuses because of sewage spills, it has emerged. Ruth Jefferson received a 14% base salary increase in October, from £590,000 to £670,000, before other benefits, according to accounts published this month. It was far above the 3.5% given to workers, and put her pay at 18 times that of the company’s median employee. Water industry executive pay has come under intense scrutiny in recent years amid public outrage over sewage spilling into Britain’s rivers and seas. It prompted the government to introduce a bonus ban in 2025 for companies responsible for serious pollution, or which failed financial tests. Malaysian-owned Wessex Water supplies 2.9 million water and sewerage customers in south-west England, including Bristol, Bath and Bournemouth. It revealed in its report that it expected to fall foul of the bonus ban “particularly in relation to environmental and operational metrics”. Jefferson’s full pay packet for the year reached £791,000 once pension and unspecified other benefits were included. She had received £440,000 the previous year for six months while serving as chief compliance officer and then chief executive. Another water company, Anglian Water, awarded its chief executive, Mark Thurston, a £500,000 “retention payment”, despite being banned from paying bonuses. The payment to the former HS2 railway boss was made by Anglian’s parent company, which claimed that it was allowed to do so because the bonus was not linked to performance. Anglian said the payment did not replace bonuses and was made to Thurston in July 2025 from funds that would otherwise have been paid to shareholders “to ensure his retention until January 2027”. The annual report said it had a “long-held, steadfast view that banning bonuses is not helpful” and it would be “more effective to focus on rewarding improvement”. An Anglian Water spokesperson said it paid “targeted, time-limited retention arrangements to maintain leadership continuity”, but that they “do not replace bonuses and are not paid for by Anglian Water Services or customers.” The company said shareholders pay. Gary Carter, a national officer at the GMB union, said: “The government has tried to stop water company bosses giving themselves hefty bonuses, but they keep finding ways to sneak past the legislation and fill their pockets. “Water chief executives haven’t learned the public is sick of obscene pay and company failure – and as long as they can feather their own nests, they will. The onus mu