The chief executive of South East Water, David Hinton, has announced his resignation, a week after a cross-party committee of MPs declared it had no confidence in his leadership of the troubled utility.
In a press release, the company said Hinton, who has served on the board since 2013, had notified directors of his intention to step down as chief executive and executive director. He will remain in post over the summer "to allow an orderly transition" and maintain "continued momentum of the transformation plan" while the board searches for a successor.
The company's interim chair, Lisa Clement, said: "On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Dave for his many years of loyal dedication and service to South East Water Limited." The regulatory filing added that Hinton had "no disagreement with the board" and that there were no matters relating to his resignation that needed to be brought to the attention of shareholders or other stakeholders.
His departure follows a damning report published on 30 April by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee, which took the unusual step of declaring it had no confidence in either Hinton or the board to address what it described as the company's "multiple and ongoing failures". On the same day, the firm's independent non-executive chair, Chris Train, resigned with immediate effect, with Clement appointed interim chair.
The Efra committee's report concluded that South East Water "presents as a company devoid of proper leadership, riddled with cultural problems that raise serious concerns about the ability of the executive team, led by the CEO David Hinton, to bring the company back into compliance and deliver the services their customers deserve". The committee said culture change at this scale required the company's leadership to change.
The committee's chair, the Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, said the move to declare no confidence was "unusual but necessary", describing the situation as "an exceptional failure of management and of corporate governance". He said many South East Water customers had so little confidence in the security of their supply that they were stockpiling bottled water.
South East Water said further details about the search for a new chief executive would be announced in due course
The MPs' inquiry followed a major outage at the Pembury treatment works in late 2025, which left around 24,000 properties around Tunbridge Wells, including schools, GP surgeries and care settings, without clean drinking water for two weeks. The committee recalled the company's leadership after raising concerns about the accuracy of evidence first given in January.
Among the failings identified, the committee said the company had not carried out jar tests recommended by the Drinking Water Inspectorate, leaving it "flying blind" during the Pembury incident. It also pointed to inadequate maintenance of reservoirs, boreholes and trunk mains, repeated regulatory warnings about the need to invest in resilience, and "pitiful" incident response planning. The report further criticised the firm's communications and provision for vulnerable customers, including bottled water deliveries left outside homes overnight or in packages too heavy for some residents to lift.
The regulator Ofwat is currently consulting on a fine of up to 8% of South East Water's annual turnover, around £22.46 million, over the company's performance, and said in March that it has had one of the worst water supply interruption records in the industry for a decade. Earlier this year, the company unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent Ofwat from publishing a report containing information relevant to credit agencies.
Following the Efra report, MPs called on the company's shareholders – Utilities Trust of Australia, NatWest Group Pension Fund and Desjardins Group, along with associated holding companies – to hold management to account.
In its earlier statement on 30 April, the South East Water board had reiterated "an unreserved apology to those customers impacted by recent operational failures, and the resulting loss of public trust". The company said it planned to double investment in its supply network, which serves more than 2.2 million customers across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, over the next five years, subject to customer support.
South East Water said further details about the search for a new chief executive would be announced in due course.
