Research has revealed executives running the UK’s top listed companies have seen their pay rise more than twice as fast as other workers, earning 130 times more than the average worker
The average fatcat boss running Britain’s biggest companies now earns 130 times what a typical worker does, latest research has revealed.
The gap has widened from 124 times last year and stands at an eight-year high, according to think tank the High Pay Centre. It came as its analysis showed the median average pay and perks for a chief executive running a FTSE 100 had reached a new record high of just over £5million a year, up 8.6% from £4.66m in 2024/25.
Andrew Speke, interim director at the High Pay Centre, said: “The substantial growth in the gap between executive and worker pay in the past year should be a wake-up call to those who’ve turned a blind eye to rising executive pay.
“As our findings show, this is the fourth year in a row that FTSE 100 executive pay has risen, and this growth is starting to substantially outstrip growth in worker pay.”
In a message to new PM Andy Burnham, he said: “We hope that a change in Prime Minister and a renewed focus on economic fairness will lead to economic inequality and corporate excess returning up the political agenda. A failure to tackle such disproportionate and inefficient levels of inequality will only further reduce faith in our current economic model and help to accelerate the rise of right-wing populism.”
The research by the think tank – which has long shone a spotlight on the issue of excessive boardroom pay – comes as it being forced to close due to a decline in funding.
According to the data, a total of 66 FTSE 100 firms increased their chief executive’s pay package from the previous year, up from 61% of firms who did so last year. The average 8.6% jump in the pay and perks of top bosses far outstrips the 3.6% for a typical UK employee in the year to April, with a typical full-time work on just under £40,000 a year. In total, £856.6million was spent on FTSE 100 executives, including £550.4 million on CEOs.
Pay-setting committees at many big firms argue they need to reward top executives with bumper salaries and perks to both attract the best and to compete with companies in other countries – including the US – and those owned by private equity firms.
The High Pay Centre argues the case for a “fat cat tax”, whereby firms would pay a corporation tax surcharge on their yearly profits if the total a boss gets exceeds a specified multiple of the median UK worker’s salary. It says it could start with a small tax on those pay packages that exceed 10 times, before increasing in size at thresholds of 50 times. 100 times, 200 times and 500 times.. “Not only would this incentivise firms to scale back the levels of corporate wealth flowing to a small handful of individuals but also could be used to raise funds to be invested in education and early years provision, helping to tackle inequality at source,” it says.
It also calls for wider reforms to boost employee involvement at the top of companies, including having workers on the board. It also believes all companies should be made to provide more detailed information in their annual reports around pay, including the number of workers paid less than a living wage.
The 10 best paid FTSE 100 bosses last year:
(Nb: The High Pay Centre included Karim Bitar of Convatec, although he passed away in late 2025. He was replaced by chief financial officer Jonny Mason)
1. Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca £17.7m
2. Emma Walmsley, GSK (since left) £15.7m
3. C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays £15m
4. Wael Sawan, Shell £13.7m
5. Bill Winters, Standard Chartered £12.7m
6. Charles Woodburn BAE Systems £12.4m
7. Erik Engstrom, RELX £11.4m
8. Karem Bitar/Jonny Mason, Convatec £11.2m
9. Ken Murphy, Tesco £10.8m
10. Dominic Blakemore, Compass £10.5m
