MPs accuse Yorkshire Water of 'taking us for fools' over £1.3m undisclosed CEO payments
MPs have accused Yorkshire Water of “taking us for fools” after it emerged CEO Nicola Shaw was handed an extra £1.3m in undisclosed payments over the last two years from the firm’s off-shore parent company.
Shaw received two £660,000 payments for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years from Kelda Holdings, Yorkshire Water’s Jersey-registered parent company, on top of her main salary and bonus payments.
These were not published in Yorkshire Water’s annual report and executive pay does not have to be declared in Jersey. They were only revealed after an investigation from The Guardian newspaper.
The second payment is now being looked at “with urgency” by the water industry regulator Ofwat, as to whether it breaches the Government’s bonus ban.
Yorkshire Water has insisted the payment was for Ms Shaw’s additional work as CEO of Kelda Group, which included “investor engagement, financial oversight, and management”.
It means that Ms Shaw’s overall remuneration over the last two financial years has been more than £3m, at a time when serious pollution incidents have trebled, bills are set to increase by 41 per cent over the next five years and there is a hosepipe ban across the region.
In 2024-25, the CEO said she had declined to take a bonus over poor environmental performance.
Now 13 Labour MPs have written to Yorkshire Water’s chair Vanda Murray demanding answers about the additional payments, describing them as “disgraceful” and “a betrayal of public trust”.
Bradford West MP Naz Shah, one of the signatories, said: “At a time when constituents are facing a 41% increase in water bills, sewage is polluting our rivers, and pipes are bursting, the CEO is accepting payments that completely contradict her public statements.
“Nicola Shaw promised she would decline bonuses out of respect for public anger, while in private she accepted even more money.
“This is exactly why public confidence in water companies is at rock bottom.
“People keep seeing their bills go up while executives get richer. When will Yorkshire Water stop taking their customers for fools?”
The MPs are calling on the company to disclose all executive payments made via Kelda Holdings, since 2022, explain Ms Shaw’s role as CEO of the parent company and justify “why this structure is not a breach of public trust and regulatory intent”?
Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin told The Yorkshire Post that she had “strongly raised” the undisclosed fees in a call with Ms Shaw on Monday.
“She had a response that this was for a different type of work - bringing investment into Yorkshire Water.
“Sadly, we have not heard the comms around that, how that is going to help Yorkshire Water deliver better outcomes for the paying public.
“We know that the public have lost confidence in Yorkshire, particularly as bills have gone up by 29 per cent and it feels like it’s not got any better.”
A Yorkshire Water spokesperson said that as part of her role Ms Shaw “also does some work for the benefit of Yorkshire Water’s parent company, Kelda Group, including investor engagement, financial oversight, and management of the Kelda Group, which is recognised by a fee of £660,000 paid by shareholders.
“This is a conscious governance decision: we do not believe that work done on investor-related activities should be paid for by Yorkshire Water customers’ bills.”