Despite public pressure and a government commitment to clamp down on executive pay levels, median pay for a FTSE 100 CEO leapt 11% in 2017 according to research from the High Pay Centre and the CIPD
FTSE 100 CEO median pay now stands at £3.9m per year, an increase on £3.53m in 2016.
The pay think-tank says analysis is affected by two very large payouts for the CEOs at Persimmon and Melrose Industries (£47.1m and £42.8m respectively).
In order to reduce the impact of these two outliers, the report leads with the median, rather than the mean figure, but still shows an increase in earnings of 11%, compared to the 2% rise in median pay enjoyed by full-time workers over this period.
However, if the mean measure is used, then it shows that CEO mean pay across all FTSE 100 companies has increased by 23% over the same period, from £4.58m in 2016 to £5.66m in 2017.
Excluding Persimmon and Melrose Industries from the analysis would see the 2017 mean CEO single figure fall from £5.66m to £4.85m, which is still 6% higher than last year’s overall mean figure of £4.58m indicating rising executive pay remains a continuing trend, according to the High Pay Centre.
The highest paid CEO in the financial year ending 2017 was Jeff Fairburn of Persimmon who received £47.1m, 22 times his 2016 pay. Simon Peckham of Melrose Industries received £42.8m, 43 times his 2016 pay.
The mean pay ratio between FTSE 100 CEOs and the mean pay package of their employees stands at 145:1, which is higher than last year (128:1 in 2016, 146:1 in 2015). While women make up 7% of FTSE 100 CEOs, they earn just 3.5% of total pay.
Review of FTSE 100 executive pay is here
Report by Pat Sweet
