Wessex Water awarded its chief executive Ruth Jefferson a 14% base salary increase in October, raising her compensation from £590,000 to £670,000 annually, according to accounts released this month. The raise significantly exceeded the 3.5% increase provided to other workers and resulted in Jefferson earning 18 times the median employee salary. Her total annual pay package, including pension and additional benefits, reached £791,000.
The compensation increase occurred despite the company facing restrictions on executive bonuses. The government implemented a bonus ban in 2025 for water companies responsible for serious pollution incidents or those failing financial tests. Wessex Water acknowledged it expected to fall under the bonus prohibition, particularly due to environmental and operational performance metrics. The company supplies 2.9 million water and sewerage customers across south-west England, including Bristol, Bath and Bournemouth.
Executive pay at water utilities has faced mounting public and political scrutiny in recent years following widespread sewage spills into British waterways. Wessex’s disclosure of Jefferson’s salary increase drew comparison to similar arrangements at other privatized water companies. Anglian Water awarded its chief executive Mark Thurston a £500,000 retention payment despite bonus restrictions, claiming the arrangement bypassed the prohibition because it was not performance-linked. Yorkshire Water’s chief executive received £660,000 from the parent company Kelda Holdings, prompting criticism from local officials and campaigners.
Wessex Water stated the salary adjustment was implemented following a planned review to align remuneration with market benchmarks, as Jefferson’s initial compensation had been deliberately positioned below comparable organizations. The company noted no additional payments were made to executive directors from other group companies during the most recent year. Ofwat, the industry regulator, indicated it would require companies to disclose all executive compensation paid by parent companies to improve transparency.