SCOTTISH Water executives have seen bonuses jump by over a third in one year amid workers pay dispute.
Three Scottish Water executives raked in £330,000 in 2023/24 - with over £70,000 given to incoming chief executive Alex Plant as a relocation handout.
In 2022/23 three key of the firms’ executives, Douglas Millican, Peter Farrer and Alan Scott, pulled in £242,000 in performance bonuses and benefits, including car allowances on top of six-figure salaries.
But since the installation of chief executive Alex Plant in place of Douglas Millican in 2023 the executive bonuses have risen to £329,000 in 2023/24.
According to a report by The Herald, Plant in his first 10 months received eye-watering sums in performance bonuses and benefits amounting to £170,000 on top of a £246,000 basic salary, taking his pay package including pension to £483,000.
Benefits included a one-off £73,000 payment made to Plant – previously director of strategy and regulation at Anglian Water – to relocate to Scotland. This includes £13,000 in relocation assistance, an accommodation allowance of £29,000 and a contribution of £42,000 towards Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) associated with the purchase of a new permanent home.
Earlier this month Unison sent more than 1000 Scottish Water workers strike ballot papers.
Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser at Scottish Water, told The Herald that workers will be angered to discover bonuses were given in the last full while staff vote on industrial action. She added that the bonuses "demolish the credibility" of the Scottish Government’s public pay policy.
This comes as water bills in Scotland will increase by almost 10% in April while Scottish Water is in the midst of a pay dispute with staff. Despite this however, bills are still expected to be cheaper than those found in England and Wales.
Scottish Water, which is state owned, is included amongst the list of bodies, agencies and corporations that the Scottish Government's public sector pay policy applies to. Other state-owned firms such as Ferguson Marine are not included.
The public sector pay policy says that the suspension of bonuses allows public bodies to maximise their resources to "address fair pay issues and pay awards".
It said that the suspension applies to all non-consolidated performance payments. It also says that there is a presumption against provision for performance payments in all new chief executive contracts.
The Scottish Government says ministers have approved bonus payments and that Scottish Water had an exemption from the pay rules in recognition of the need to retain staff in competition with the private sector, despite remaining listed as one of the public sector bodies that the pay rules apply to.
A Scottish Water spokesman said: “Scottish Water is publicly owned and commercially operated and executive salaries – among the lowest of any comparable company in the UK – are agreed by the Scottish Water board and the Scottish Government and are based on market factors to ensure we have the right people leading our business.
"Incentive plans are driven by out-performance of clear business targets, verified by our independent regulators. This reflects the need for Scottish Water to operate on a commercial basis within the public sector and in recognition of this, the Scottish Government has given us flexibility to reward all employees as performance merits it.
"Scottish Water continues to out-perform and meet ministerial objectives.”
The spokesman added: “As a responsible employer, we want to make sure our people are paid fairly. That’s why we’ve offered a 3.4% rise, significantly above inflation, with a guaranteed £1400 minimum increase. This means those in lower salary grades receive the highest percentage increase in Scottish Water.
“With previous improvements to pay and conditions, this offer means Scottish Water will be spending 17% more on employee salaries than two years ago. This is in addition to reducing our company work week to 35 hours."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The framework for bonus payments has to be approved by Scottish Ministers. The current framework was approved in advance of the 2021-27 regulatory period.”
