Committee publication · Correspondence · 2 September 2025
Correspondence from Yorkshire Water regarding legal fees, dated 31 July 2025
From: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Reforming the water sector
Summary
Yorkshire Water responds to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's inquiry into the water sector reform, providing details on external legal fees incurred over five years. The company reports £1.7m in external solicitor fees for an Ofwat wastewater investigation, £102,341 for Environment Agency prosecutions, and no external fees for Drinking Water Inspectorate matters. Yorkshire Water also discloses an ongoing £180m collective proceedings claim and outlines its compliance record with regulatory actions.
Key findings
- Yorkshire Water incurred £1.7m in external solicitor fees responding to Ofwat's wastewater investigation, particularly for provisional findings and Draft Decision Notice responses, with substantive work handled in-house by General Counsel.
- £102,341 spent instructing external Counsel for five Environment Agency prosecutions over five years; Yorkshire Water pleaded guilty to each but sought to reframe EA arguments on culpability and harm under Sentencing Guidelines.
- No external legal fees incurred with Drinking Water Inspectorate; all DWI work handled by in-house team.
- Collective Proceedings Order matter brought by Professor Carolyn Roberts seeks approximately £180m; external lawyers instructed with costs not yet finalised as appeal permission granted to claimant.
- Company maintains in-house legal team of 10 lawyers with four dedicated to regulatory matters; external legal support only instructed for resource constraints or specialist expertise.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Yorkshire Water, Alistair Carmichael MP, Nicola Shaw, Ofwat, Environment Agency, Drinking Water Inspectorate, Professor Carolyn Roberts
Notable line
“A total of £1.7m was incurred in respect of external solicitor's fees in providing this support.”
Key Quotes
“All matters requiring legal support are handled in house unless there are resourcing issues or the matter is of such a specialist nature, it requires external legal support.”
“A total of £1.7m was incurred in respect of external solicitor's fees in providing this support.”
“A total of £102,341 has been incurred on the instruction of Counsel to represent the company at the final sentencing hearing”
“The claim brought against Yorkshire Water is alleged to be in the region of £180m.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗