Overview

• Lawrence Gosden’s total remuneration for 2024–25 reached almost £1.4 million, nearly doubling his previous year’s package through a two-year long-term incentive plan funded by shareholders.
• Environment Secretary Steve Reed condemned the payout as “outrageous” and publicly urged Gosden to refuse the incentive, pointing to Southern Water’s environmental and service failures.
• Nineteen Labour MPs representing affected constituencies demanded Gosden turn down the “shameful” payment in a letter citing sewage leaks, major bill hikes and plummeting customer trust.
• The Water (Special Measures) Act now bars firms that breach standards from issuing similar incentive payments and ministers have pledged further legislative refinements to tighten executive pay controls.
• Southern Water maintains the payment complies with regulator rules and is shareholder-funded, but the dispute highlights deep public scepticism after a category 1 sewage spill, a 53 percent bill rise and repeated service outages.