The Board of South East Water has announced that the company’s executive team has the support of the Board following the publication on Friday of a highly critical report entitled “Failures at South East Water” and the resignation of Independent Non-Executive Chair, Chris Train on the same day.

Commenting on the Chair's resignation on Friday, EFRA Committee Chair Alistair Carmichael MP said:

“We welcome the decision by South East Water’s Chair, Chris Train, to take his share of responsibility for the failings at South East Water and resign.

“However, many of the problems identified in our report fall firmly into the areas of responsibility of the Chief Executive, David Hinton. Our report, published today, calls for a change of leadership at both executive and non-executive levels.

“Across eight years the people of Kent and Sussex have seen repeated supply failures, with common themes throughout – lessons not learnt, regulators’ recommendations not acted upon, deflection and obfuscation in the face of scrutiny.

“The Board wasn’t doing its job in holding the Chief Exec to account. So we have thrown down the gauntlet to the only entities who can change SEW for the better – its investors. For the long-term good of the company and its customers, we call on them to act.”

The Board said it “notes the report handed down” by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee, commenting that Board discussions have taken place in recent weeks regarding the company’s recovery and transformation plan.

A statement issued by the Board on Friday said:

“As part of this, the Board and Chris considered the leadership of South East Water and mutually agreed that new independent Board leadership is now required to oversee a critical period of positive, transformative change for the Company, its customers, and local communities.

“The Board has accepted Chris’ resignation and thanks him for his service and significant contribution during his tenure.

“The executive team has the support of the Board to continue accelerating targeted engineering works and make operational changes to improve the resilience of the supply network, increase water capacity and quality in high priority areas as part of a comprehensive, company-wide transformation plan.

“The company intends to announce further details about this soon.

“The Board and executive team reiterate their unreserved apology to those customers impacted by recent operational failures, and the resulting loss of public trust in the company and its services.”

The Board has now initiated an external, independent search process for a permanent Independent Non-Executive Chair. Lisa Clement, currently Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, is appointed Interim Independent Non-Executive Chair effective immediately until the search is completed.

Following his appearance alongside Chair Chris Train before the EFRA Select Committee on Tuesday 14 April 2026,  David Hinton, South East Water CEO, said:

“We apologise unreservedly to all our customers for the unacceptable water outages experienced in December and January. We recognise the serious impact this has had on our customers and know that we fell short of what is expected of us.

“In recognition of this, I have made the decision not to accept any bonus for the 2025/2026 year.”

However, as yet has no formal statement been issued by the water company chief, who came in for trenchant criticism from the MPs, on the findings in the Committee’s report.