Britain's CEOs get record pay in 2023, research shows

A drone view of London's Canary Wharf financial district in London, Britain March 3, 2024. REUTERS

The bosses of Britain's biggest companies enjoyed record pay in 2023, with nine firms offering them packages of more than 10 million pounds ($12.75 million), research on Monday showed, as British workers argue for higher wages.

The median pay for a FTSE-100 company CEO rose 2.2% to 4.19 million pounds last year, think tank the High Pay Centre said, though it added CEO pay growth had slowed compared with the previous two years.

Median FTSE-100 CEO pay was 120 times that of the median full-time British worker, the research showed.

Train drivers and family doctors are among employees in Britain to take industrial action this year over pay or conditions.

"The increase in average CEO pay reflects a small number of companies making really large pay awards rather than big increases across the board," said Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre.

Hildyard added that Britain had "a business culture that puts the interests of investors before workers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders".

Executive compensation at Britain's top companies has drawn shareholder anger in recent years, with most critical of the gap between average worker earnings and CEO pay.

But some UK fund managers are backing calls to give boards more flexibility on paying top talent, to staunch a brain drain to countries where pay is less of a hot topic.

The highest-paid British CEO was Pascal Soriot of drugmaker AstraZeneca, who earned 16.85 million pounds, the High Pay Centre said. Next was Erik Engstrom of information and analytics group RELX on 13.64 million pounds, the research showed, using company financial disclosures.