UK chief executives’ average pay is 183 times that of workers

The average pay of a chief executive in leading companies is almost £5m — 183 times that of workers, a new study has revealed.

The top 10 highest-paid chief executives were paid over £156m between them in 2014, prompting fresh calls to curb executive pay.

Research among FTSE 100 companies by the High Pay Centre think tank found that average pay jumped to £4.964 million in 2014, compared with £4.129m in 2010.

The figure was 183 times the earnings of average full-time workers, up from 160 times in 2010.

High Pay Centre director Deborah Hargreaves said the data hinted at inefficiency and corruption.

“Pay packages of this size go far beyond what is sensible or necessary to reward and inspire top executives,” said Ms Hargreaves.

“It’s more likely that corporate governance structures in the UK are riddled with glaring weaknesses and conflicts of interest

“The coalition government introduced some welcome reforms in 2013 that have at least enabled us to get a better understanding of the executive pay packet.

“However, it’s clear that these reforms didn’t do nearly enough to start building a pay culture where everybody is rewarded fairly and proportionally for the work that they do.”

The average pay ratio between FTSE 100 chief executives and the average wage of their employees was 148 last year, up from 146 in 2013.

Only a quarter of the FTSE 100 firms are accredited to the Living Wage Foundation for paying the living wage.

The report said changes to regulations so that UK-listed companies have to publish pay details of their lead executive appear to have had virtually no effect in curbing “excessive” executive pay.

“It seems highly unlikely that the gap between CEOs and other workers will close in the foreseeable future,” said the report.