The £1m signing-on payment came 15 months after Mr Buck joined the struggling utility, and followed legal advice taken by Thames Water over its obligations. It can also be revealed that Thames Water has reached settlements over retention payments to 14 other executives, including two who have now left the company. Many of these are understood to involve Thames Water paying smaller sums than those originally envisaged under the retention scheme, and over a longer period. They have so far proposed a £10bn deal to take control of Thames Water, which includes injecting £3.35bn of fresh equity into the company. The funds would also provide a total of £6.25bn of new debt, while writing off £9.6bn of Thames Water’s existing borrowings.