How does Thames Water’s Sarah Bentley’s salary compare to others as she rejects bonuses and steps down as CEO?

It certainly does not seem like water under the bridge to the UK population as their immense criticism of Thames Water’s environmental impact leads to its CEO Sarah Bentley to step down from the role with immediate effect.

Sarah, who claims to be ‘passionate about the water sector’ on her LinkedIn profile, joined the utility company in September 2020 after working on the executive team at Severn Trent for several years.

However after three years, the 51-year-old has walked away from the role which saw her earn an annual pay packet of £1.6 million and forgo her bonus for the 2022-23 financial year, as the country’s largest water company battles not only its environmental performance that saw raw sewage discharged into rivers but also its reputation after further controversy surrounded executives’ salaries.

In terms of environmental impact, the company who serves 15 million customers around the London and Thames valley area reached a five-year high on leakage rates from Thames Water pipes; while the spotlight on Sarah Bentley’s pay saw the former CEO scoop a £496,000 payout last year.

Sarah’s announcement to forgo her bonus last month came as two other chief executives of UK water companies decided to refuse their extra pay too accounting for the dumping of raw sewage in rivers.

With Sarah Bentley pocketing nearly £2 million in her last payday, it raised the question of how much the other executives missed out on when they refused their annual bonus - PeopleWorld finds out.

Up the stream from Thames Water is Yorkshire Water fronted by Nicola Shaw, who stated that due to the ‘strength of feeling’ surrounding the raw sewage leaks, she would pass on her first bonus since joining the company which is estimated to be between £600,000 to £800,000 based on performance.

These statistics derive from the director’s bonuses a year ago worth around £878,000.

Susan Davy of South West Water also responded to the company’s sewage leak by saying: “This is the right thing to do. We’re listening to our customers, we get it,” when choosing to pass on a pay rise for the past two years and a bonus estimated around half a million pounds.