SIX water companies have been banned from paying bonuses to senior bosses under new rules that came into force today.

Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, Wessex Water, United Utilities and Southern Water were all included in the ban, which covers the 2024-25 financial year.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed warned companies would be “extremely foolish” to try getting around the new ban by increasing salaries.

He warned water companies should avoid moves that would lose the “confidence” of customers and said there was a need to “rebuild their broken relationship.”

“Customers are furious at the fact that they’re seeing local waterways being polluted, but bosses taking multimillion-pound bonuses,” he told Times Radio.

But he stopped short of suggesting that the government could regulate pay.

He said: “I don’t think it’s right that government or regulators should be capping the salaries in private-sector businesses.”

Public ownership campaigners at We Own It have hit back at the new rules, calling them a “token gesture” while “England drowns in raw sewage.”

The group’s director Cat Hobbs told the Morning Star that water companies are already looking for loopholes to pay top bosses more, despite the ban.

She said: “With this latest announcement the government is just fiddling while Rome burns, or more accurately fiddling while England drowns in raw sewage.

“This is a token gesture and water bosses have already indicated they’ll just increase salaries instead.

“The Water (Special Measures) Act... is an exercise in tinkering round the edges whilst still propping up Thatcher’s failed privatisation experiment.”

She added: “It’s high time the government listens to the public on this, gets a grip and takes back control of our water — starting with the poster child for failed privatisation, Thames Water.”

A spokesperson for Water UK, a trade association representing water companies, said: “Performance-related pay is independently determined by remuneration committees, which will abide by the laws and regulations set by government.

“Water companies are focused on investing a record £104 billion over the next five years to secure our water supplies, end sewage entering our rivers and seas and support economic growth.”