Thames Water paid its finance chief a £1m signing-on fee in July as the company struggles with a mountain of debt and faces temporary nationalisation.

Steve Buck joined the company in April 2025 but it is understood the seven-figure payment was not made until last month after the company had taken legal advice over its contractual obligations.

The existence of the payment, first reported by Sky News,, external was revealed in a letter from the Thames Water chairman to MPs on the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

In the letter,, external Sir Adrian Montague said he understood customers would see large payments to senior leaders as “unjust” but argued they were necessary to stop staff leaving.

The letter said: “The majority of the team were brought in recently to fix the problems the company faces and are not responsible for causing those problems.

“These talented and experienced individuals have opportunities for roles outside Thames Water and, in many cases, have been actively approached by other companies.

“These roles would be less in the public gaze, less difficult and more remunerative.”

Sir Adrian described the payment to Buck as a “necessary incentive” and said the money had come from emergency funding provided by Thames Water’s lenders.

He said the company is facing recruitment and retention difficulties and warned the problem would “persist” if it was nationalised or put into special administration.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s unacceptable that one of the worst-performing water companies is handing out huge payments to its executives when it should be focusing on improving performance and rebuilding public trust.

“We’ve banned bonuses for polluting water bosses. We expect companies to follow both the letter and the spirit of the rules.”

Under new rules, introduced last year, water companies failing to meet key standards would automatically lose their right to award certain bonuses.

Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP and chair of the Environment Committee, said: “Money should be going into improving services, not remunerating already well-paid senior executives.

“The government were clear in the early days that they wanted this to stop. It is obvious that they have not succeeded in this. We need to hear now from them about what they intend to do about it.”

In a blog published in July,, external an executive director at the regulator Ofwat said public trust was damaged by unwarranted bonuses.

Helen Campbell wrote: “This includes excessive payments made under the rationale of retaining leaders, but which are not transparent or sufficiently explained.”

She added that companies had to set out their reasoning for awarding particular bonuses and Ofwat would determine whether they had “complied with our rule”.

The utility company owes roughly £20bn and has been working with creditors and government officials to find a way forward.

Failure to reach a deal could lead to Thames Water being forced into a “special administration regime”, a form of temporary nationalisation intended to keep the business operating until a viable solution can be found.

This would see government-appointed officials temporarily running the company – including funding its operations and upgrading infrastructure as well as dealing with any outstanding debts following a restructuring of the business.

If the company was subsequently sold to a private buyer, the government would be able to recoup some taxpayer cash.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously said he would like to see “greater public control” of key water and energy utilities.

In the past year, Thames Water boss Chris Weston saw his pay increase 14% to £1.63m while other directors received bonuses totalling £4.1m.

Speaking on the BBC Big Boss interview late last month, Weston acknowledged there was anger about Thames Water pay, but argued that the company needed to be able attract “capable people to help turn this company around”.

“If we’re not prepared to pay market rates, then they won’t come to us and they won’t stay with us,” he said.

Weston also warned special administration could see taxpayers left bearing the cost.

Instead, he threw his weight behind a rescue deal that has been put forward by the firm’s lenders.

Thames Water has faced intense criticism for several years over failures to prevent sewage discharges and leaks.

Last year it was handed a record fine of £122.7m from the regulator Ofwat, who said the company had “let down its customers and failed to protect the environment”.

Weston said he wanted the company to “do better” but some of the targets it had been set were “not realistic”.

Thames Water has warned it only has enough cash to last until the end of the year, putting pressure on the new government to decide what to do with the company, which provides water to 16 million people across London and the Thames Valley.

Ministers could give the green light to the rescue deal, proposed by Thames Water’s lenders, which would see some debts written off and new money invested in exchange for leniency on environmental targets.

The previous Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds dismissed the plan as weak, arguing it did not do enough for consumers. She has since been replaced by Angela Eagle.