United Utilities Chief Executive Earned Over £1.25m in 2024/25

The chief executive of United Utilities received total pay of more than £1.25 million during the 2024/25 financial year, newly published figures reveal.

Louise Beardmore, who leads the North West water company, was paid £1,254,000 for the year. By comparison, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s annual salary of £172,153 would fit into her total remuneration around seven times.

United Utilities’ chief financial officer, Phil Aspin, also received a substantial package, earning £938,000 over the same period.

Ms Beardmore’s pay included a fixed salary of £839,000 alongside £415,000 in long-term incentive payments. Mr Aspin’s remuneration featured £398,000 in long-term incentives. The incentives awarded to the chief executive relate to a scheme granted in 2022, before she took up the CEO role in April 2023.

The company’s 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements also show that Ms Beardmore would have been paid an additional £417,000 annual bonus in 2024/25. However, this payment did not proceed following a government decision to ban executive bonuses at six water companies, including United Utilities.

United Utilities supplies water services to households across the North West. The firm has recently announced proposals to increase bills by 32 per cent by 2030, a move that has attracted criticism from local politicians amid ongoing concerns over sewage discharges into watercourses in Cumbria.

In response, a spokesperson for United Utilities said the company has “a long-standing approach of linking executive performance-related pay to outcomes that matter most to customers,” including drinking water quality, environmental standards and customer service.