By 13:00 GMT on Thursday, the pay of FTSE 100 chiefs will have overtaken the £34,963 annual median wage for full-time workers, the High Pay Centre says. Including pensions, top bosses’ average reward amounts to £3.81m per year, the centre says. That works out to £1,170 per hour - 109 times the average full-time worker.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents 48 member unions, said that the figures were a sign that the UK faced “obscene levels of pay inequality”. “When politicians listen to these misguided views, it’s unsurprising that we end up with massive inequality, and stagnating living standards for the majority of the population,” he said.
High Pay Centre Director Luke Hildyard said the figures called into questions claims that top earners in Britain were not paid enough.
The business trade body the CBI, which represents some of the listed companies, was asked for its response but declined to comment.
Throughout 2023, leading figures in finance and business called for higher pay for chief executives in the UK. (1)
They pointed to higher compensation in countries such as the US, where the median pay for S&P 500 bosses was more than $14m (£11.06m) in 2022.
In December, money management giant Legal and General Investment Management adjusted its executive pay guidelines to permit firms it invests in to offer more generous incentive payments.
The head of the London Stock Exchange, which has been passed over by some UK firms opting to list in the US, has also argued that low CEO pay levels create a risk to the UK economy.
(1) Greedy barstewards … 