Executive pay trebles

Executive pay has trebled over the past 10 years, despite the UK’s banking crisis and double-dip recession, according to an independent think tank.

Over the last financial year, the chief executives of Britain’s top companies have seen pay increase by 12% on average to £4.8 million — or 185 times the average wage — the High Pay Centre said in its latest report

It blamed the government’s failure to act for the rise, which compares to a pay increase of just 2.8% for most British workers.

New measures that give shareholders the power to veto executive pay increases are “a step in the right direction”, the report said, but a vote every three years is “unlikely to achieve significant change”.

And over the course of the so-called "shareholder spring" — when investors had the opportunity to vote against bosses’ pay packages — only two in the FTSE 100 were rejected, it highlighted.

Deborah Hargreaves, the High Pay Centre’s director, said it was crucial to keep the issue in the spotlight.

“It’s wrong that Britain’s bosses are taking home more and more money as their companies shrink, their employees are squeezed and jobs are being lost,” she said.

“Chief executives are hoping that their big bonus and their inflated rewards culture will escape attention, now that the banking crisis has passed.”

http://highpaycentre.org/files/STATE_OF_PAY_REPORT_FINAL.pdf