Several water companies have banned the bone of paying “unfair” bonds to senior executives under new rules, the government announced.
The measures apply to water companies that do not comply with environmental and consumer standards, are not financially resistant or have been convicted of a criminal offense.
There has been a growing public concern about wastewater spills and increased invoices for years, while water companies have paid £ 112 million in rewards to executives during the last decade.
Under the reinforced water law, six companies are prohibited from paying bonds this year, including Agulian Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, United Utilities, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water.
The prohibition, which is carried out in April 2024, means a regulator of what can force companies to recover bonds that have paid or face application actions. It applies to the sharing and cash awards.
It is part of new measures in the Water Law that enters into force on Friday.
The Secretary of the Environment, Steve Reed, said that the public had been “furious” about the bonuses for the chiefs of the water firm “despite supervising the record levels of wastewater in rivers, lakes and seas.”
“With this government, the ear of benefiting from pollution is over,” he told the BBC today.
When challenging him about the question of which the partners of anywhere they would try to avoid the ban by increasing the base wages of executives, as happened with bank bonds, he said that water companies “would be silly if Custy tea tea needs to rebuild.”
“They need to rebuke that broken relationship,” he said. “I don’t think they do that, but we are watching the eye, and there are opportunities to intervene if necessary.”
But the Democratic liberal environment spokesman Tim Farron, described the announcement of the government “halfway”.
Hello, he added that “it does not touch the sides to promulgate a fundamental reform, especially if water companies can still solve bonds and start from the hook.”
Only in the last year, 7.6 million were paid in bonds to the chiefs of water in England, the government said.
Water UK, which represents industry companies, said that the independent committees of the companies, which decide on the payment related to performance, will comply with the laws established by the Government.
He added: “Water companies focus on investing a record of £ 104 billion in the next five years to ensure our water supplies, end the wastewater that entertain our rivers and seas and support economic growth.”
This week, a review found that the water industry in England and Wales is failing.
The Independent Water Commission, directed by the former vice president of the Bank of England, Sir Jon Cunliffe, said in his provisional findings that public confidence had been shaken by “pollution, financial difficulties, poor management [and] Infrastructure failures “.
Customers have seen Bills Rocket while water companies try to raise funds to invest in a crumbled infrastructure.
The commission said that the United Kingdom’s water system has suffered “deep, systemic and intertwined failures over the years.”
This included a “failure in the strategy and planning of the government for the future.”
Last month, Thames Water was fed with £ 122.7 million for violating the rules of wastewater spills and shareholders’ payments, the largest fine ever issued by Wat.
The highly independent company serves approximately a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom, mainly in London and parts of the south of England, and used 8,000 people.
Earlier this week, Thames suffered a great blow to an attempt to ensure his future after the US private capital giant. KKR obtained a rescue agreement of £ 4 billion for the company.
In April, activists discovered that numerical pollution incidents in England were in a maximum of 10 years.
