Earnings of top company chiefs double in five years
Total pay of chief executives of the top 100 firms has reached "new heights" because of ever-increasing incentive payments, according to a study by pay analysts Incomes Data Services.
Over the same period, the average earnings of full-time workers across the country as a whole increased by £5000 to just in excess of £30,000 a year.
It follows reports from earlier in the month by accounting giant KPMG that chief executives enjoyed an average 16% rise in total remuneration in 2007, while other executive directors on company boards saw their base salaries increase at a similar rate.
In August, Sir Fred Goodwin, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, along with other top managers, was awarded shares which will see him take home around £3.6m, three times his basic salary, as well as his annual bonus.
Standard Life's top three executives received more than £5m in pay last year, despite shedding more than 5000 jobs in the past three years.
Sandy Crombie, Standard Life's chief executive, received more than £2.2m, a rise of £870,000 on 2005.
The IDS report said pay experts were now questioning the current level of boardroom earnings, adding that calls for action to limit wage growth were increasing.
A recent poll of pay experts by IDS found more than half thought executive directors were overpaid and two-thirds believed wage differentials were too wide.
Steve Tatton, one of the report's authors, said: "It is no surprise that the earnings of top directors continue to escalate given what's been happening to incentive scheme design.
"The potential maximum awards from all types of incentive scheme, bonus, share option and other long-term incentives have all been edging up and the rewards are being received today."
The trades union movement has reacted with anger at the findings, claiming it would be more honest if top executives said they paid themselves huge rises "because they can".
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Britain's top directors clearly have no shame. Year in, year out they have been paying themselves far bigger rises than they are prepared to pay their staff while lecturing the rest of us on the need for low taxes.
"It beggars belief that they are somehow working twice as hard as five years ago."
He added: "It is time the rest of us gave a big raspberry to all their hand-wringing excuses of needing the incentives and matching the international going rate.
"This is not just morally offensive greed, it is bad for the rest of society too. The growth of a new class of the super-rich, semi-detached from the rest of society, hits social cohesion, feeds into house price inflation and harms staff loyalty and commitment."
The study also found that earnings for chief executives of the FTSE-250 firms have increased by 90% since 2001-02 to an average of £1.4m each.
The salaries of directors in FTSE-350 firms rose by 9.3% in the past year alone compared with wage settlements across the economy as a whole of
3.5%, said IDS.Chief executives in FTSE-100 firms were paid average salaries of £737,000 in the last financial year, but total earnings averaged £3,174,000 when incentive payments and share options were added.