Water Companies: Fines
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Government News Story published on 19 June 2025 entitled Government to invest over £100m in water company fines to local environmental projects, if she will publish a timeline for the allocation of unallocated fines levied against water companies since October 2023 into projects to clean up the water environment.
Answered by Emma Hardy
On 20 January 2026, Government announced alongside the White Paper that the next tranche of £29 million in water company fines will support further local water improvement projects through catchment partnerships, the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) and Water and Abandoned Metal Mines (WAMM) Programme.
Catchment partnerships are currently submitting funding applications for approved projects within the WEIF programme, and successful projects will be announced in due course, whilst details of WAMM schemes are available at: Water and Abandoned Metal Mines Programme.
This constitutes all fines received between October 2023 and October 2025, excluding any enforcement undertakings agreed by regulators. Government will confirm how any future income from fines and penalties will be spent in due course, after the balance has been paid.
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