Nicola Shaw, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, received £1.3m in previously undisclosed additional pay from the company’s Jersey-registered parent, Kelda Holdings, over the past two financial years. The Guardian has learned that Shaw was paid £660,000 in each of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years for work linked to investor engagement, financial oversight and management of the Kelda Group.
The utility initially refused to disclose the size of the payments, arguing that Kelda was a private entity registered in Jersey and subject to separate disclosure frameworks. Only after the Guardian raised concerns about the ability of MPs and billpayers to scrutinise the pay did Yorkshire Water confirm the amounts. The company insisted the extra fees were covered by shareholders, not billpayers, and that it complied fully with Ofwat’s requirements on pay disclosure and bonuses.
Yorkshire Water’s published accounts show that Shaw’s pay from the regulated subsidiary fell by nearly a third in 2024-25, from £1,028,000 to £689,000. However, when the Kelda Holdings fees are included, her total remuneration from the Kelda Group was approximately £1.7m in 2023-24 and £1.3m the following year. Chief financial officer Paul Inman also received £440,000 from Kelda Group in 2024-25, on top of a salary of £662,000.
The revelations come amid intense scrutiny of the water industry, with public anger over sewage discharges and rising bills. In June, the government moved to ban bonuses for executives at water companies responsible for the worst environmental breaches. Yorkshire Water was one of six companies caught by the ban after agreeing to pay £40m in March for excessive spills from storm overflows, and it was fined an additional £850,000 on Thursday for pumping chlorinated water into a stream in 2017.
Gary Carter, national officer for the GMB union, said the hidden pay further undermined the industry’s reputation. “This is another case of water companies not listening to the outrage and concerns of the public over the payment of unjustifiable salaries,” he said. “The fact that this salary is hidden and not transparent just further undermines the reputation of water companies. This sort of behaviour has got to end.”
