Water firm United Utilities has been accused of “corporate greed in plain sight” after revealing plans to award its chief executive a shares “allowance” worth £435,000 a year.
The supplier’s recent annual report shows chief executive Louise Beardmore is in line for the first tranche under the so-called allowance of shares in August, with the second instalment in February next year.
She would need to keep the shares for at least two years, according to United Utilities.
The plans – which will be voted on by shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting on July 17 – have been heavily criticised by campaigners, coming after Ms Beardmore was denied a £417,000 annual bonus for 2024-25 by regulator Ofwat after an incident at a reservoir in December 2024 led to the death of thousands of fish.
James Wallace, chief executive of River Action, said: “Calling a £435,000 bonus an ‘allowance’ fools nobody.
“This is corporate greed in plain sight.”
He added: “The era of obscene executive payouts must end, with real personal sanctions, including custodial sentences for the worst offenders.”
The annual report from United Utilities shows Ms Beardmore was awarded an annual bonus of £830,000 for the most recent 2025-26 financial year and long-term incentive awards worth £712,000.
Her total pay package jumped by 44% to £2.5 million in 2025-26, up from £1.4 million in 2024-25 after the reservoir incident saw her bonus cancelled and long-term share awards were also reduced to £567,000.
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron branded the share allowances plan “another incredibly out-of-touch move from a water company”.
He said: “This proves that the Government’s bonuses ban isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, with the water industry never failing to find ways to evade accountability, rather than cleaning up our water and fixing the crumbling infrastructure.”
United Utilities said the planned share “allowances” for Ms Beardmore and chief financial officer Phil Aspin – who is in line for £280,000 a year under the award – will see the maximum potential yearly bonuses reduced to 100% of annual salary, down from 130%, and long-term share awards cut from up to 200% of salary to 175%.
It said the move was made to “retain and ensure the stability of the executive team and provide a competitive overall remuneration opportunity”.
Ms Beardmore and Mr Aspin’s annual salaries were hiked by a fifth to £870,000 and £560,000 respectively in July last year, the group’s annual report also showed.
In the report, United Utilities’ remuneration committee chairwoman Kath Cates said: “The committee has thought very carefully about how to construct a fair and balanced remuneration policy that will allow us to continue to retain and incentivise our experienced leadership team, and attract new talent.”
She added: “We recognise that the proposals are somewhat unusual in the context of UK-market norms but believe that the unique circumstances which our sector faces (including competing stakeholder priorities and an ever-evolving regulatory environment) warrant adoption of a tailored approach.”
But the group stressed that executive director pay for 2025-26 would not be paid for by customers in an attempt to soothe concerns over remuneration for its water bosses.
“Recognising that executive remuneration in the water sector remains a contentious matter… the board has decided that for 2025-26 none of the pay received by the executive directors will be paid for by customers.
“This goes beyond our previous commitment that customers would not pay for performance-related pay outcomes.”