Former Wessex Water boss receives £170k bonus despite government ban

According to accounts up to June 2025, ex-boss Colin Skellett received a total of £693,000 in pay from the water company’s Malaysian-owned parent company, YTL Utilities (UK).

The figure includes the £170,000 bonus.

The ban, which prohibited performance-related bonuses, was implemented by the government following criminal pollution convictions against the company in November 2024.

It followed the failure of a sewage pumping station six years earlier, which resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 fish.

Wessex Water were fined £500,000 at the time.

Read more: Reform UK pledge to prosecute civil servants who grant asylum to sex offenders

Read more: 'Fit and healthy' man, 26, who thought he 'had the flu' dies

Following the incident, the government banned bonuses for the 2024-25 financial year for the chief executives and finance bosses of Wessex, alongside five other companies.

Just last month, Wessex were fined a further £11million over additional sewage failures.

News of Skellett's bonus has garnered strong criticism from the Liberal Democrats, which said it showed that the government’s bonus ban was “nowhere near strong enough”.

Water industry regulator Ofwat have said the bonus was legal as it was related to a different part of the parent company’s business.

A spokesperson for Wessex and YTL said that the bonus “entirely relates to his new role and was entirely funded by YTL.

"In his new role Colin is responsible for YTL UK group businesses including the development of Brabazon New Town”.