Sarah Champion MP celebrates Labour’s ban on unfair bonuses for Yorkshire Water bosses
Sarah Champion, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, welcomes news that unfair bonuses have been banned with immediate effect for senior bosses at Yorkshire Water.
Under these new rules, introduced with the landmark Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, companies including Yorkshire Water are not permitted to pay bonuses to water bosses that oversee poor environmental and customer outcomes.
Yorkshire Water awarded over £12.9 million in bonuses and incentives over the last decade, paying £616,000 in bonuses last year alone.
Companies that do meet Ofwat’s standards will still be eligible to pay executives bonuses – a powerful incentive for bosses at Yorkshire Water to deliver immediate environmental improvements, better customer outcomes, and improve financial resilience.
Cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas is essential after 14 years of Conservative failure. The Conservatives even tried to hide the extent of sewage spills before the election, with Robbie Moore, then the Water Minister and now a Shadow Environment Minister in Kemi Badenoch’s team, telling Environment Agency officials not to put the key figures on the front page of an online portal.
Reform UK, who did not even mention sewage in their manifesto, have recently made the unfunded commitment to nationalise the water industry that could cost taxpayers more than £100 billion over many years of distracting disruption.
In contrast, the Labour Government’s Plan for Change is delivering with tougher regulation and enforcement action, together with a record £104 billion of private investment over the next five years, to reduce sewage discharges to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.
Sarah Champion MP said:
“It’s outrageous that Yorkshire Water bosses have received millions in bonuses, while our rivers and streams have been pumped with raw, toxic sewage.
I’m relieved to see a ban on bonuses taking place with immediate effect. No one should be rewarded with a bonus for polluting our waterways.”
Labour’s Environment Secretary Steve Reed said:
“Cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas after 14 years of shameful Conservative failure is essential to this Labour Government’s Plan for Change.
That’s why Labour is banning undeserved bonuses with immediate effect delivering on the promise we made at the General Election.”