South East Water boss quits a week after chairman

The boss of South East Water (SEW) has quit just a week after its chairman following demands by MPs for a change of leadership at the struggling utility firm.

The company, which has faced ridicule over a series of supply failures across Kent and Sussex, said Dave Hinton had resigned but would remain in post until a successor was appointed.

Mr Hinton, who had been its chief executive since 2020 and a director for 13 years, had previously said he would take no bonus for 2026 following the latest outage late last year that left tens of thousands of customers without drinking water for two weeks.

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SEW said in a statement: "Mr Hinton has decided to step down as he feels his position has become an increasing distraction from South East Water's most important priority, which is to deliver a resilient water supply for its customers."

It added: "The board remains focused on accelerating targeted engineering works and making operational changes to improve the resilience of the supply network, increase water capacity and quality in high priority areas as part of a comprehensive, company-wide transformation plan."

News of Mr Hinton's departure comes hot on the heels of chairman Chris Train, who left with immediate effect.

He resigned last week following the scathing report by MPs.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said SEW was "devoid of proper leadership" and "riddled with cultural problems".

It called for a reset of the company's attitudes - and argued "change at this scale requires SEW's leadership to change".

Lisa Clement, the company's interim independent non-executive chair, said: "The board acknowledges and thanks Dave for his many years of loyal dedication and service to South East Water."

But the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, welcomed his resignation.

"This must mark the beginning of positive change at South East Water, where customers' needs are prioritised and there is a stop to supply outages", she said.

Ms Reynolds added: "Our once-in-a-generation reform of the water sector will continue to drive improvements across the industry more widely."

(c) Sky News 2026: South East Water boss quits a week after chairman