Pay gap widens as UK bosses get 130 times average worker's salary
Median pay for FTSE 100 CEOs hit a record £5.06m last year, widening the gap to 130 times the average UK worker's salary, the largest divide since 2018.
Chief executives of Britain's largest listed companies received record pay last year, widening the earnings gap with workers to its highest level in eight years. Median pay for FTSE 100 CEOs rose 8.6% to £5.06m in the last financial year, according to the High Pay Centre, a thinktank.
Executives are now paid 130 times the average full-time UK worker's salary of £39,000, up from 124 times the previous year. The ratio is the largest since 137 times in 2018. Total CEO pay at FTSE 100 companies reached £550m, with overall executive pay at £856.6m.
The thinktank said the previous year's £1bn total was skewed by Melrose Industries' exceptional £212m pay package, which dropped mean pay to £5.89m from £6.09m. Sixty-six of 94 companies increased their CEO's pay.
Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca was the highest-paid CEO at £17.7m, topping the list for three of the last four years. Emma Walmsley of GSK was second with £15.6m after a near-50% rise. Barclays' CS Venkatakrishnan received £15m after EU bonus caps were scrapped. Shell's Wael Sawan got £13.7m despite a profit fall, and Standard Chartered's Bill Winters got £12.7m.
The High Pay Centre, which is closing after 15 years, called for reforms including a "fat-cat tax", worker directors on boards, and full implementation of Labour's employment rights bill. Interim director Andrew Speke said failing to tackle inequality would reduce faith in the economic model and fuel rightwing populism.
