Severn Trent boss pockets another £3.2m despite fury over sewage leaks

Severn Trent’s boss has brought in another few million pounds despite growing anger over the state of Britain’s waterways.

Liv Garfield, who has run the FTSE 100 water provider since 2014, was paid £3.2 million last year, bringing her total income since she took over the company to £25 million.

The pay package, which was lower than the £3.9 million award awarded last year, included a bonus of £358,800 and £1.9 million from the company’s long-term incentive plan.

Severn Trent, meanwhile, reported a profit increase of 0.5 per cent to £509m for the year to the end of March, while revenues rose 11.4 per cent to nearly £2.2bn.

Garfield’s decision to accept the bonus was in stark contrast to that of other bosses in the industry.

The heads of Thames Water, Pennon Group and Yorkshire Water gave up their bonuses out of outrage at the industry’s record of leaks and sewage spills.

But executive pay has continued to rise. Thames Water revealed this week that boss Sarah Bentley has still received £1.6million for the 2022-23 financial year despite giving up her bonus, as she redeemed a ‘gold hello’ package awarded when she left three years ago was poached from Severn Trent. .

Last month, Severn Trent admitted it should have given sewage problems “a lot more attention and acted more quickly” as the company and its rivals struggle to clean up their conduct and save their reputation.

The company was fined £1.5 million in 2021 for illegal discharges of wastewater from four different sewage treatment plants.

Government officials have been trying to get water companies to pay more attention to their sewerage record.

Industry regulator Ofwat leans on companies to align bosses’ bonuses with pollution targets.

Companies monitor when sewer leakage occurs and how long it lasts as part of a set of performance indicators used to determine executive bonuses.

But they do not tend to monitor the amount of wastewater discharged into the waterways.

Opposition politicians have called on the government to crack down on the sector amid growing public outcry over the sector’s lack of self-regulation.

The Minister of the Environment [Therese Coffey] clearly sleeps behind the wheel,” said Liberal Democrat environmental spokesman Tim Farron, who called on water companies to account for what he called “unjustified” dividend payments.

Henry Swithinbank, policy manager for campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, has also called for fines and penalties to be recovered from bonuses and dividends to ‘discourage profits from pollution’.

£5 million pay deal for Sainsbury’s chef

Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts saw his total pay deal for the year to March rise by more than £1.4m to £4,947m

The boss of Sainsbury’s received a wage deal worth nearly £5 million last year – as shoppers face rising food prices.

Simon Roberts, who has been CEO of the UK’s second largest supermarket since 2020, saw his total salary deal for the year to March rise by more than £1.4m to £4.9m.

The pay deal – which was revealed in the company’s latest annual report – includes nearly £4 million in bonuses, despite the group posting lower profits for the year.

His total pay package is about 229 times that of the average Sainsbury’s employee, who earns an average of £21,635 according to the annual report.

Roberts received a base salary of £899,000, as well as annual benefits of £17,000 and £67,000 in pension payments.

The 52-year-old also received an annual bonus of £1.7 million and long-term incentives worth £2.3 million.

Sainsbury’s finance boss Kevin O’Byrne also saw his pay package improve this year, according to the report.

He received a wage deal worth a total of £3.3 million, an increase of nearly £3 million from the previous year.

It came despite Sainsbury’s reporting of a 5 per cent drop in underlying profit before tax to £690m for the year to March 4.

The company said it had spent £560m improving prices as shoppers came under pressure from rampant food and drink inflation.