And finally…Boss’s pay 183 times higher than their minions’

Fat CatThe average pay of a UK chief executive is 183 times that of their average member of staff and now almost hits a staggering £5 million each.

According to a new study carried out by the High Pay Centre, Britain’s 10 highest-paid chief executives were paid more than £156million between them in 2014.

Research among FTSE 100 companies by the think tank found that average pay jumped to £4.964million in 2014, compared with £4.129million in 2010.

The latest figure is 183 times the earnings of average full-time workers, up from 160 times in 2010 and is likely to prompt fresh calls for action to curb executive pay.



High Pay Centre director Deborah Hargreaves said: “Pay packages of this size go far beyond what is sensible or necessary to reward and inspire top executives.

“It’s more likely that corporate governance structures in the UK are riddled with glaring weaknesses and conflicts of interest.

“The coalition government introduced some welcome reforms in 2013 that have at least enabled us to get a better understanding of the executive pay racket.

“It is clear these reforms didn’t do nearly enough to start building a pay culture where everybody is rewarded fairly and proportionally.”

The average pay ratio between FTSE-100 chief executives and the average wage of their employees was 148 last year, up from 146 in 2013. Only one-quarter of the FTSE100 firms are accredited to the Living Wage Foundation for paying the living wage.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Inequality is reaching stratospheric levels. Ordinary employees need to be included in workplace pay committees.”

Share icon
Share this article: