THAMES WATER PAYS £1M SIGNING FEE TO FINANCE CHIEF

Thames Water has paid its chief financial officer, Steve Buck, a £1m signing fee, the company revealed in a letter to MPs last week. The payment was made at the end of last month after Thames took legal advice over its obligations. The money was drawn from a £3bn emergency debt package agreed with creditors to keep the company operating while it negotiates a longer-term takeover arrangement.

Thames Water provides water and sewage services to 16 million customers in London and the Thames valley and has been on the verge of collapse for more than two years. The company is one of at least eight water companies banned from paying performance-related bonuses because of continued environmental failings from its infrastructure. Creditors who effectively control Thames have spent months negotiating to take formal ownership if regulators will grant leniency on future fines, and have offered the government a "golden share" in the business to avoid having their debts written down.

The payment is likely to strengthen calls for government intervention. Andy Burnham has previously indicated that the government should take control of Thames to write off debts worth billions of pounds. Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, a campaign group calling for nationalisation of the water industry, said Thames Water was "completely taking the mickey" and urged Burnham to take back the company, noting that shareholders have walked away and debt could be "drastically cut and refinanced more cheaply in public hands".