FTSE 100 bosses’ pay ‘overtakes average UK salary in less than three days’

FTSE 100 bosses will have to work less than three days of 2026 to overtake the average annual salary of a full-time UK worker, according to new research.

The High Pay Centre estimates that the earnings of FTSE 100 chief executives will surpass the average pay of British workers just before midday on Tuesday.

It calculates that the average yearly salary for chief executives of UK blue chips stands at £4.4 million, equivalent to an hourly rate of £1,353.23 and 113 times more than the £39,039 typical salary of a full-time UK worker.

The High Pay Centre, a think tank focused on fair pay, calculated these figures based on salary disclosures in companies’ annual reports and government statistics.

Andrew Speke, interim director of the High Pay Centre, said the figures “once again emphasise the huge gulf in how the work of most people is valued compared to a small number of feted executives”.

He said: “The idea that executives, as a class, are individually contributing over 100 times more in value than the workers they rely on is simply not credible.”

The High Pay Centre and some trade unions have said they hope the Employment Rights Act, which received Royal Assent in December, could help to reduce the widening gap between chief executive pay and worker salary.

Andy Prendergast, the national secretary of the GMB union, said workers are only just starting to see their wages grow again having struggled with the cost-of-living crisis.

“But fat cats are still creaming it in. That’s why the Employment Rights Act is so crucial: to give workers a level playing field to get the pay they deserve,” he said.

It comes after the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, Dame Julia Hoggett, said in November that UK companies were being more “forceful” in rewarding top executives with higher pay packages to attract the best talent.

For the 2024-25 financial year, FTSE 100 chief executive pay grew by 6.8% to a record £4.58 million from £4.29 million the previous year, according to a previous recent report by the High Pay Centre.

Among the highest paid were Simon Peckham and Peter Dilnot, the former and current bosses of aerospace manufacturing company Melrose Industries, who received a combined salary of £58.9 million in 2024-25.

In December, Bet365, a non-listed betting company, came under fire after it was revealed that chief executive Denise Coates received a pay package of at least £280 million in 2025.

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said that while the Employment Rights Act will help to improve the working rights of millions, more reforms are needed to reduce pay inequalities.

“The Government must act to rein in boardroom greed – including by guaranteeing workers a seat on executive pay committees”, Mr Nowak said.

The High Pay Centre said partners at so-called Magic Circle law firms are estimated to surpass the UK worker’s average salary by January 8, while material risk takers at FTSE 100 banks will do so by January 16.

Partners at the Big Four accountancy firms will overtake average worker earnings by January 20, with those in the top 1% of UK earners surpassing the figure by March 19.