The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee declared today (1 May) that it has “no confidence” in South East Water’s (SEW) chief executive or board to deal with the numerous and ongoing failures, or to protect residents from disruption, in the latest blow to the company, which is 25 per cent owned by NatWest Group Pension Fund.

A cross-party committee report stated that SEW’s leadership incompetence was part of a “culture of unaccountability” and that its “wholly inadequate governance framework” had failed to hold management to account.

SEW has already faced threats of the revocation of its operating licence as multiple issues have seen 10 of thousands of SEW customers in Kent and Sussex repeatedly left without water.

In one of the worst examples, a major water outage in Tunbridge Wells at the end of 2025 saw many thousands without drinking water for two weeks. Those affected included people living in care facilities. The company blamed leaks in its outdated pipe system.

The report said that SEW was “devoid of proper leadership” and “riddled with cultural problems that raise serious concerns about the ability of the executive team, led by CEO David Hinton, to bring the company back into compliance [...].”

The committee specifically called on shareholders – including NatWest Group Pension Fund as well as Utilities Trust of Australia and Desjardins Group – to hold the company to account.

Speaking to Pensions Age in January, MP for Tunbridge Wells, Mike Martin, said he was targeting the shareholders of SEW because they were publicly listed – which is not the case for SEW – and that his aim was to see NatWest and other owners remove the current leadership team.

When approached for comment after today’s announcement, a spokesperson for NatWest Group Pension Fund said: “The impact of these incidents on SEW’s customers is unacceptable. We have consistently expressed our views to members of the board that they must address the issues facing the company, including the issues of governance and leadership.

"We will continue to use our influence as a minority shareholder to ensure that the board understands our position on these matters and will encourage the board to address them effectively and with urgency.”

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