The “Dry Wells Action” Tunbridge Wells community group has condemned Monday’s decision of the board of South East Water to keep its chief executive, David Hinton (pictured below), in post and says it now expects him to be given another pay rise in April.
Jonathan Hawker who’s Chairman of “Dry Wells Action” says he’s identified that David Hinton is being paid an extra £50,000 so-called “cash allowance” to deal with regulators probing the company’s activities. That’s on top of a 30% increase in David Hinton’s basic salary last April from £307,000 to £400,000 a year.
Jonathan Hawker (pictured below centre) says that effectively gave Mr Hinton a 47% increase in annual pay for the current year at a time when the company increased consumer bills by 20%.
In a statement, South East Water told Southborough News: “South East Water remains committed to a remuneration framework that supports a performance culture, and recognises success but does not reward poor performance.”
The SE Water statement continued: “The remuneration committee, led by independent non-executive directors, approved a 30.2 per cent increase in the base salary of the CEO. This is detailed on page 165 of our annual report, and page 166 details the cash allowance provided to each director in relation to the CMA process. We can confirm that no bonus payment was made for operational performance for the year 2024/25.”
Jonathan Hawker of “Dry Wells Action” said: “David Hinton should not be rewarded for his repeated failing. Dealing with regulators is obviously part of the day job of the chief executive of any regulated company, so why is the Board giving Hinton more just to do something he would be doing anyway?”
Six MPs have now demanded the removal of David Hinton.
Helen Whately MP for Faversham and Mid Kent (pictured above), said she was furious that the company’s Monday board meeting resulted in a decision to stand by Mr Hinton.
She said: “It’s a kick in the teeth [for] all those people who had days without water, not least all those vulnerable householders who were left without emergency supplies, along with livestock, businesses and schools.
Helen Whately concluded: “I have no confidence in the current leadership to turn South East Water around. The Chief Executive will keep on enjoying his six figure salary into the foreseeable future. It’s a disgrace.”
South East Water is due to hold its annual general meeting later this month after announcing a further 7% increase in water bills for the coming year.
A dispute between South East Water and OFWAT over the company’s 5-year business plan to 2030 is being considered by the competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA is due to announce its findings in March.
Jonathan Hawker of “Dry Wells Action” said the £50,000 “cash allowance” for Mr Hinton was “buried in the company’s annual report” and was “wholly inappropriate”. It is not categorised by SE Water as either pay or bonus.
South East Water said the extra £50k was put in place to recognise the additional hours which Mr Hinton would need to devote to dealing with the water regulator, OFWAT.
Jonathan Hawker said: “What we really need is for Chris Train, South East Water’s chairman, to get a grip, stop rewarding failure, and replace Hinton immediately with someone who can do the job and announce urgently a plan to sort out the problems faced here in Tunbridge Wells and beyond.”
Jonathan Hawker continued: “South East Water has made no announcement of any plans to address the issues here and has avoided public debate.”
According to “Dry Wells Action”, under David Hinton’s five years of leadership, SE Water has gone from an annual profit of £37.7m to a loss of £19.8m last year. Its borrowings now exceed £1.3bn. The company has paid £249m in dividends to shareholders over the past decade.
Southborough News 