On the 1 December 2023 legislation was changed to introduce unlimited variable monetary penalties. This applies to Environment Agency enforcement responses to onshore oil spills in England.

Further information can be found here:- Annex 1: RES Act – the Environment Agency's approach to applying civil sanctions and accepting enforcement undertakings - GOV.UK.

Under the agreed undertakings, Northumbrian Water must provide Ofwat with regular monitoring reports on progress, including an initial report in June 2026 and further updates every six months. The company is also required to publish progress updates for customers and stakeholders on its website.

If Northumbrian Water fail to comply with this undertaking, Section 18 of the Water Industry Act 1991 gives Ofwat the power of further enforcement, which could include the issuing of an enforcement order and/or penalty.

More broadly, water companies are required to comply with their statutory and licence obligations, including providing information to Ofwat, and where they fail to do so, Ofwat has powers to take enforcement action.

Successful projects for the Water Restoration Fund (WRF) were announced in October 2025. These projects are now in delivery and there are no plans for further application rounds.

On 20 January 2026, government announced alongside the White Paper that £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.

These funds were based on environmental fines and penalties collected from water and sewerage companies.

Government will confirm how any future income from environmental fines and penalties will be spent in due course, after the balance has been paid.

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.

Between 1 June 2025 and 2 June 2026, the Environment Agency took 254 enforcement actions against water and sewerage companies for water quality incidents. This included 3 prosecutions resulting in fines totalling £1,622,333, and 19 enforcement undertakings worth £8,148,000, alongside other regulatory actions.

Since 2021, the Environment Agency has imposed six fines on Yorkshire Water totalling over £3.5 million, with no record of any fines or penalties being issued and cancelled.

The cost burden for water company fines is borne by their shareholders, not by customers. Ofwat ensures this through the price review process, where companies are required to exclude costs relating to fines imposed by the courts or regulators from the expenditure costs they recover through customer bills.

Payment of fines is ultimately a matter for the regulator.

The enforcement of licence conditions is a matter for Ofwat as the independent economic regulator. To remedy its licence breach in losing its investment grade credit ratings in 2024, Ofwat has confirmed it accepted an enforcement undertaking from Thames Water in August 2024 (Ofwat confirms actions for Thames Water following investment credit rating downgrade - Ofwat). These commitments will remain in place until the company regains two investment grade credit ratings.

Environment Agency (EA) officers have been working with all local partners on the initial and long term clean up strategy and have gathered the necessary evidence from impacted areas. The EA will apply their enforcement and sanctions policy when deciding on an appropriate enforcement response.

We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the Environment Agency will not hesitate to hold companies to account.

The Water (Special Measures) Act provides the most significant increase in enforcement powers to the regulators in a decade, giving regulators the teeth they need to take tougher action against water companies. These include new powers to enable the Environment Agency to recover costs associated with their enforcement of the water industry.

A consultation has been launched to expand and strengthen the current range of financial penalties available to the Environment Agency in a bid to clamp down on more offences. Water companies who commit environmental offences could face quicker penalties of up to £500,000, under changes being considered by the government.

The Environment Agency has also increased water company inspections to 10,000 per year from April 2025 as part of the Government’s wider focus to hold companies accountable and improve our water environment.

In June, this Government announced that fines and penalties levied against water companies for environmental breaches will be reinvested into future local environmental projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. These could include local environmental programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. Further details about the projects and programmes to be funded and whether alternative sources of funding will be required will be confirmed in due course.

It is for the regulators to determine fines against water companies.

In May this year, Ofwat issued a £104.5m fine to Thames Water for breaches of rules relating to the company’s wastewater operations. A payment plan has since been confirmed, with 20% of the fine to be paid by the end of this month.

In June this Government announced that fines and penalties levied against water companies for environmental breaches, will be reinvested into future local environmental projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. These could include local environmental programmes to address pollution and improve water quality. Further details about the projects and programmes to be funded will be confirmed in due course.

£109 million in fines and penalties has been applied against water companies since October 2023. This includes the £104.5 million fine issued by Ofwat to Thames Water for breaches of rules relating to the company’s wastewater operations.

In June this Government announced that fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023, as well as future fines and penalties, will be reinvested into future local environmental projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas. Further details about the projects and programmes to be funded by these water company fines onwards will be announced in due course.

All anglers caught fishing without a licence are subject to enforcement action as outlined in the Environment Agency’s Enforcement and Sanctions Policy here. Rod licence income is ring fenced to be used by the Environment Agency to maintain, improve and develop freshwater fisheries in England and Wales.

Please see below the number people and actions for Offences for fishing without a Rod licence (Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act Section (1) (a).

NB: The table includes for actions taken between 04/07/2023 to 01/09/2024, for comparison purposes.

Please note, the EA has brought prosecutions against people, however the court imposes penalties after convictions, and the EA itself does not have the power to fine individuals for Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act offences. Fines are imposed by the courts and go to Treasury.

The Water Restoration Fund, which launched in April 2024, was established to reinvest water company environmental fines and penalties back into projects to improve the water environment. A total of £11 million, based on fines and penalties from April 2022 until October 2023, will be invested into local projects to improve our waterways. Over the next two years, the Water Restoration Fund will invest over £795,000 of water company fines and penalties specifically into chalk streams.

Going forwards, this Government has announced that over £100 million in fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023, as well as future fines and penalties, will be reinvested into projects across the country to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

Environmental enforcement, including fines, is provided by independent regulators Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA). Enforcement activity and subsequent fines are affected by a wide variety of factors and the Government does not have a predicted figure for the next 12 months. EA fines are imposed by the courts which apply the Sentencing Council’s Environmental Offences Definite Guideline on a case-by-case basis.

On 19 June 2025, the Government announced that over £100 million in fines and penalties levied against water companies since October 2023 will be reinvested into projects to clean up our waters which could include local programmes to address pollution and improve water quality.

Following the Spending Review, the Government has confirmed water company fines will be allocated to local environmental projects and programmes to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas.

Over £100 million in fines has been levied against water companies since October 2023, which will be reinvested into local environment projects and programmes to address pollution and improve water quality.

More information on this announcement can be found on GOV.UK. A further announcement on the details on the projects and programmes that this funding will go towards will be set out in due course.

Water company fines that accumulated between April 2022 and October 2023 will be invested through the Water Restoration Fund. Up to £11 million of funding was made available on a competitive basis to support a range of water restoration projects to improve the water environment. Successful applicants have been notified, and an official announcement will follow in due course.