Not Just Another Drop In The Ocean: Thames Water And Developments In Restructuring Plans Since Adler

On 15 April 2025, the Court of Appeal handed down its reasons¹ for dismissing the various appeals made against the sanction of the Thames Water restructuring plan by Mr. Justice Leech in February 2025² . This marks only the second occasion on which the Court of Appeal has considered issues relating to restructuring plans—the first of course being the Court of Appeal's decision in Adler in January 2024³. In the time between the Adler and Thames Water appeal judgments, we have seen several key developments in the restructuring plan space which have (in most cases!) helped clarify the practice and scope of restructuring plans, but which also highlight the increasingly contentious nature of such processes and the difficult task of the court to adjudicate between competing interests. This therefore seems like a good opportunity to check in on the post-Adler and post-Thames state of restructuring plans and what the landscape now looks like after a tumultuous year (and