Thames Water increases bonus payments to £4m despite uncertainty over future

Annual results show struggling firm’s net debt has risen to £19.7bn, up from £17.7bn a year earlier Thames Water increased its bonus payouts to £4.1m for senior managers, despite warning over “material uncertainty” over its future as it scrambles to recapitalise to avoid nationalisation. The water company also gave a pay rise to its chief executive, Chris Weston, and drew the ire of Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, for paying him a previously deferred bonus of £99,000 – despite a ban on bonuses because of pollution failures. Total bonuses to “key management personnel” rose from £2.8m in the year to March 2025 to £4.1m. The bonuses went to members of the board and executive team other than the chief executive and finance boss, who are covered by the ban. Thames, which has been held up as a symbol of the privatised sector’s failures, has been blamed for polluting rivers and waterways with sewage leaks and has struggled under a debt pile that is now approaching £20bn. It is now effectively under the control of its creditors, who are trying to negotiate a rescue deal after its shareholders walked away. Thames said it had sufficient funding to survive until