Sir Adrian Montague, CBE, Chairman of Thames Water has written to the Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP, Chair of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee to confirm that the water company’s Board has decided to maintain its ‘pause’ on management retention payments.

In a brief two paragraph letter dated yesterday, Sir Adrian refer to the Board’s letter of 1 December 2025 in which he promised to respond to the EFRA Chair promptly as to the decision of the Remuneration Committee and the Board in respect of the Management Retention Plan.

Sir Adrian wrote:

“The Board have decided to maintain the pause in respect of the Management Retention Plan and accordingly no payments will be made in December 2025. Payments in the future remain under review.”

Commenting on the decision, Alistair Carmichael said:

“Thames Water has written to the Committee today to report its decision on the tranche of ‘management retention payments’ expected to be paid to senior company employees.

“The Chair of Thames Water, Sir Adrian Montague, writes that the Board has decided to ‘maintain the pause in respect of the Management Retention Plan’, with the result that no payments will be made in December 2025. He adds that ‘Payments in the future remain under review.’

The EFRA Committee Chair added:

“It's important that the focus of Thames Management is on turning round the company and not on rewarding staff and having to handle negative headlines. The public is rightly furious at the prospect of senior staff in a company with the performance record of Thames receiving bonuses. We will continue to monitor this situation.”