New law to ban bonuses for polluting water bosses. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 has today received Royal Assent, boosting the powers of water sector regulators to tackle pollution.
The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and The Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP annonced what they call a “Major legislation to crack down on water bosses polluting Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas” has today been signed into law in the most significant increase to enforcement powers in a decade.
The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025 will give regulators new powers to take tougher and faster action to crack down on water companies damaging the environment and failing their customers. (see Gov.uk)
Prem Sikka, Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Member UK House of Lords, comments on BlueSky:
New law to ban bonuses for polluting water bosses in England, says UK govt. Unenforceable, as I said in parliament. Thames Water has said that it will circumvent by increasing base pay of bosses. Best options are customer-elected directors on company boards, customer vote on exec pay.
