UK CEOs earn 133 times more than average worker

Bosses of blue-chip companies were facing severe scrutiny after 'Fat Cat Friday' figures showed that they earn 133 times more than the average UK worker.

Just three days into the year, the average CEO of a FTSE 100 company has already earnt the equivalent take-home pay an average UK worker will earn over the entire year. This disparity is growing compared to previous years.

The average FTSE 100 CEO earns a rate of around £1,020 per hour or £3.9m annually (up 11% compared to a year earlier).

Calculations by the High Pay Centre thinktank and the professional HR body the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) show CEOs working average 12-hour days would only have to work for 29 hours in 2019 to earn the annual average of British staff at £29,574.

Peter Cheese, the chief executive of the CIPD said: “Excessive pay packages awarded by remuneration committees represent a significant failure in corporate governance and perpetuate the idea of a ‘superstar’ business leader when business is a collective endeavour and reward should be shared more fairly. This imbalance does nothing to help heal the many social and economic divides facing the country.”

The GMB’s general secretary, Tim Roache, said: “It’s sickening. Three days into the year and fat cat bosses have already made what average workers will earn all year.

“It’s not fair, and it makes no sense in how we value people’s contribution to society and it makes no sense for the economy – I don’t know any care workers who squirrel their wages away in offshore accounts, they spend it in their local areas and on paying their bills.”

Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, also criticised “greedy executives who are taking more than they’ve earned” and said their inflated pay should be brought down.