Thames Water ended FY 2025/26 with 8,472 direct salaried employees, up from 7,824 a year earlier, after 987 net new hires. In FY 2023/24 the same measure was negative, at -58.
A frontline build-up
The hiring came with a sharp fall in staff churn. Total employee turnover was 9% in FY 2025/26, against 10% in FY 2024/25 and 17% in FY 2023/24. Apprenticeship starts more than doubled, from 71 to 153, and training ran at about 32.8 thousand days.
The extra people show up in field activity. Thames Water cleaned 1,700 km of sewers in FY 2025/26, against an AMP7 average of 1,479 km, and its results presentation credits a COO-led operating model and a workforce it says expanded 12%. The salaried headcount figures imply growth of about 8.3%, so the company's 12% likely uses a wider scope.
Paid for on borrowed time
The expansion happened in a year with a £1.1 billion net cash outflow before funding. At October 15, 2026, Thames Water had drawn £2.65 billion of a £3 billion super senior facility, and creditors vote on October 29, 2026 on raising it to £5.4 billion.
Outside capacity matters as much as payroll. Ten consultancies sit on a £400 million AMP8 professional services framework, and a major projects framework covers up to £4 billion of work, with an AMP8 period running to March 31, 2030.
Results so far
More hands have not yet fixed every metric. Leakage fell 15.1% from the 2019/20 baseline against a 21.3% target, and discharge permit compliance dropped to 88.22%.
The report sets this workforce build-up alongside digital investment, energy and carbon, climate resilience, governance and the recapitalization that will decide whether it lasts, and shows which outcomes are moving. The full report, Water Utility of the Future: Thames Water, is available for USD 499 at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/reports/water-utility-of-the-future-thames-water. For a free overview, read the Thames Water Utility Snapshot at https://ourfuturewaterintelligence.com/utilities/thames-water.