![\"Pascal-Soriot\"](\"https:\/\/dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Pascal-Soriot-AstraZeneca.png\")
The pay gap between the leaders and employees of Britain\u2019s biggest listed companies is at its widest in eight years, according to new data.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s top executives received record remuneration last year, with median pay for\u00a0FTSE\u00a0100 chief executives hitting \u00a35.06m in the last financial year, according to data released by the High Pay Centre,.<\/p>\n
This represents an 8.6% increase on the \u00a34.66m in 2024 and the highest level on record.<\/p>\n
CEOs took pay and bonus cuts during the pandemic lockdowns but remuneration has been rising strongly. Listed company bosses are now paid 130 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker (\u00a339,000), up from 124 times in the previous financial year. <\/p>\n
It is the biggest gap since the ratio hit 137 in the year to the end of March 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n Of the 94 large listed companies in the analysis, 66 increased their chief executive\u2019s pay package from the previous year.<\/p>\n The mean long-term incentive payment (LTIP) increased by a fifth to \u00a32.7m, and the mean short-term incentive payment (STIP) rose 14% to \u00a31.8m.<\/p>\n Pascal Soriot, chief executive of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, was the FTSE 100\u2019s highest-paid boss last year, taking home \u00a317.7m.<\/p>\n The\u00a0High Pay Centre\u00a0said FTSE 100 firms had spent \u00a3856.6m on pay during the last financial year, including \u00a3550m remunerating chief executives. <\/p>\n The think tank, founded in 2011\u00a0<\/em>is to close after 15 years campaigning for fairer pay for workers.<\/p>\n Its interim director, Andrew Speke, told The Guardian<\/em>, which reported the data,: \u201cThe substantial growth in the gap between executive and worker pay in the last year should be a wake-up call to those who\u2019ve turned a blind eye to rising executive pay.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope that a change in prime minister and a renewed focus on economic fairness will lead to economic inequality and corporate excess returning up the political agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n Andy Burnham, who will become the prime minister on Monday, has previously said there\u00a0needs to be a public debate\u00a0about high and excessive pay, and has promised to give\u00a0\u201cbreathing space\u201d\u00a0as soon as he can to families struggling with the cost of living.<\/p>\n \t <\/div>\n