UK CEOs to receive record salaries in 2023, Reuters research shows

LONDON (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 showed on Monday, while British workers are advocating for higher wages.

Average pay for a FTSE-100 company CEO rose 2.2 per cent to £4.19m last year, the High Pay Center think tank said, although it added that CEO pay growth slowed compared to the previous two years.

The average FTSE-100 CEO salary was 120 times higher than the median salary of a full-time British worker, the research found.

Train drivers and GPs are among UK employees to take industrial action this year over pay or conditions.

“The increase in average CEO pay reflects a small number of companies making very high pay awards, rather than large increases across the board,” said Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Center.

Hildyard added that the UK has “a business culture that puts the interests of investors ahead of workers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders”.

Executive compensation at Britain’s top companies has drawn the ire of shareholders in recent years, 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 in paying top talent to stem the brain drain to countries where pay is less of a hot topic.

The highest-paid British CEO was Pascal Soriot of drugmaker AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: ), who earned 16.85 million pounds, the High Pay Center said. Erik Engstrom of information and analysis group RELX was next, with £13.64m, the research showed, using the company’s financial disclosures.

($1 = £0.7846)