The High Pay Center’s latest report on FTSE 100 CEO pay packages opens with: “10% pay rise? That’ll do nicely. Our annual survey of FTSE100 CEO pay packages shows no end to the rise and rise in top pay.” Its main findings show that the average FTSE 100 CEO pay package was £5.48 million in 2015, up from £4.96 million in 2014. The report quotes Stefan Stern, Director of the High Pay Centre, saying: “There is apparently no end yet in sight to the rise and rise of FTSE 100 CEO pay packages. In spite of the occasional flurry from more active shareholders, boards continue to award ever larger amounts of pay to their most senior executives.” As well as the Centre’s concerns about absolute pay levels, Stern welcomed a number of May’s proposals, specifically the publication of the ratio between the CEO’s pay and that of the average employee, and the placement of a worker representative on the board, both of which he feels may have a restraining influence. The report notes that only one FTSE 100 company has employee representatives on the board. That company is travel and tourism firm TUI, which recently merged with German company TUI AG, has an airline pilot and a travel agent on its supervisory board.
