A water boss has turned down his bonus after serious outages in Kent and Sussex left thousands of homes without drinking water.
David Hinton, chief executive of South East Water, said he would refuse his 2025/26 bonus after admitting to “unacceptable outages” in Kent and Sussex earlier this year.
The move came after supply failures in January left thousands of homes across Kent and Sussex without drinking water.
In January, South East Water said Storm Goretti and burst mains during freeze-thaw conditions had exhausted drinking water storage in the East Grinstead area.
The outages also prompted calls for Mr Hinton to resign, with six MPs signing a letter saying constituents needed confidence in the company’s leadership.
The letter stated: “While we recognise weather and aging infrastructure is a challenge, there is no excuse for this abysmal handling of supply outages, and our constituents need to believe this company has the leadership, energy, and drive to achieve the change needed.
“David Hinton is clearly in no position to offer this to the company.”
A huge water outage has caused ‘chaos’ across Sussex (Image: Eddie Mitchell)
Mr Hinton said: “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.”
During the outages, customers could not shower, bathe or flush toilets, and several schools were forced to close.
The announcement came after Mr Hinton faced questions from the parliamentary Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee over the company’s response to repeated outages.
David Hinton, the chief executive of South East Water, appearing before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on January 6 (Image: PA)
South East Water chairman Chris Train told the hearing that Mr Hinton had chosen to give up any bonus for the year.
Mr Train said: “The performance payment for this year – we have not finalised.
“But Dave has indicated he is not prepared to take a bonus this year.”
Mr Hinton, who became chief executive in 2020, was paid £457,000 in 2024/25, including a £115,000 bonus.
Committee chair Alistair Carmichael challenged the board over bonuses and pay rises after years of failings.
Mr Train defended the board’s approach, saying it “benchmarks the salaries of the executive in order that we make sure that we are getting the best balance of quality of executive for the organisation.”
On the wider leadership team, Mr Train said: “We have looked as you would expect us to do at what the appropriate leadership of the organisation is going forward.
“The board has given its commitment and its backing to Dave and the executive team going forward as the right solution for delivering what is best for South East Water customers.”
He also said the company was hiring outsiders to strengthen its executive team and provide “a broader spectrum of leadership across the organisation.”
Pressed over falling public trust in the company’s leadership, Mr Train admitted the board was responsible.
He said: “We are accountable for where we are.
“We as a board, we have to step back and ask the questions that you’re asking.
“We have to look at the broad context of the organisation.
“We have to look at the context of the industry and the sector and we have to do what we think is best in the best interest of South East Water customers.