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Our board

The Board of Thames Water is accountable and responsible for the delivery of its business. We are committed to being open and transparent in the delivery of the highest standards of corporate governance for the benefit of customers, investors, regulators and other stakeholders.

We support the principles set out in the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018 (the ‘UK Code’) and Ofwat’s Board leadership, transparency and governance principles. 

The Company Secretary keeps compliance with the UK Code and Ofwat’s Principles under review and any proposed changes are subject to Board approval. 

Our directors

The Thames Water Utilities Limited Board is made up of the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and 10 Non-Executive Directors, six of whom are independent. The Board has approved the division of responsibilities between the Chairman for running the Board and the Chief Executive for running the business.

As stated in the most recent Annual Report, the Independent Non-Executive Directors form the largest single group on the Board, taking account of the Executive Directors and the shareholder appointed Non-Executive Directors. All the Non-Executive Directors provide appropriate challenge and contribute to the development of the business to promote the success of the company.

The Board is committed to ensuring an appropriate mix of skills, experience and independence on the Board, which is considered when new directors are appointed. The shareholders also consider the mix of skills and experience when nominating their Non-Executive Directors to the Board, in order to complement the Independent Directors. This overall approach is appropriate in order to balance the needs of customers, the environment, shareholders, and other stakeholders. This approach also takes into account the UK Code requirements as well as the private shareholder-owned nature of the business.

Between the Directors, there is a wealth of management and financial experience, together with extensive specialist knowledge of the water industry and other regulated utilities.

Learn more about our current Board members:

Our Independent Non-Executive Directors

Non-Executive Directors

Our committees


The Board has several established committees:

  • Audit, Risk and Reporting.
  • Remuneration.
  • Nomination.
  • Customer Service.
  • Regulatory Strategy (formerly Strategy and Business Planning).
  • Health, Safety and Environment.

Learn more about the terms of reference for each committee:

Each committee reports on its activities in the governance section of the Thames Water Annual Report. All committees other than the Nomination Committee are chaired by Independent Non-Executive Directors, who comprise the majority of each committee’s membership, except the Nomination and Remuneration committees. No Executive Director is a member of any committee.

Board effectiveness and transparency

The Board undertakes a formal and rigorous annual evaluation of its performance and that of its committees and individual directors and explains in the Annual Report how the performance was evaluated.

The Board and committee meeting arrangements are reviewed regularly to ensure the openness and efficiency of meetings. The Thames Water governance framework exists to ensure the Board is accountable for its actions and focused on the key issues facing Thames Water’s regulated business. This ensures that the needs of the customer and the public interest are given full attention.

Our relationship with shareholders

There is a strong expectation that matters relating to Thames Water requiring the approval of the shareholders will be on the basis of ratification of recommendations to the shareholders made by the Board of Thames Water. In the past 12 years the shareholders have not overturned any recommendation from the Thames Water Board.

The schedule of matters which are specifically reserved for decision by the Board of Thames Water reflects, in general, the approach which would apply to a public listed company.

The shareholders discharge their responsibilities through their representation on the Board and also through their consideration of the matters set out in the list of major items which are reserved to them for approval.

There are enforceable undertakings from our UK holding company and ultimate controllers to ensure they will not take any steps to prevent Thames Water from being able to comply with its regulatory obligations as a water undertaker. There is a transparent dividend policy which prioritises investing in the regulated business.