The average chief executive of a FTSE 100 company now earns 130 times the typical UK worker's salary, marking an eight-year high in pay inequality, according to new research from the High Pay Centre. The median total compensation for a top boss reached a record £5.01 million in the 2025/26 financial year, an 8.6% increase from £4.66 million the previous year.
Pay Gap Widens Amid Record Executive Compensation
The gap between executive and worker pay has widened sharply from 124 times in 2024/25, driven by a fourth consecutive year of rising CEO pay. In contrast, the typical full-time UK employee earned just under £40,000 annually, with wages rising only 3.6% in the year to April. The High Pay Centre's analysis found that 66% of FTSE 100 firms increased their CEO's pay package, up from 61% the prior year.
Andrew Speke, interim director at the High Pay Centre, said: “The substantial growth in the gap between executive and worker pay in the past year should be a wake-up call to those who’ve turned a blind eye to rising executive pay. As our findings show, this is the fourth year in a row that FTSE 100 executive pay has risen, and this growth is starting to substantially outstrip growth in worker pay.”
Top Earners and Total Spending on Executives
The highest-paid FTSE 100 boss was Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca, who received £17.7 million. Other top earners included Emma Walmsley of GSK (£15.7 million), C.S. Venkatakrishnan of Barclays (£15 million), and Wael Sawan of Shell (£13.7 million). In total, FTSE 100 companies spent £856.6 million on executive compensation, with £550.4 million going to CEOs alone.
Pay-setting committees at major firms argue that high salaries are necessary to attract and retain top talent in a competitive global market, particularly against US and private equity-owned companies. However, the High Pay Centre challenges this view, calling for a “fat cat tax” that would impose a corporation tax surcharge on firms where CEO pay exceeds a multiple of the median worker salary.
Proposed Reforms and Political Implications
The think tank proposes a sliding scale of tax surcharges starting when executive pay exceeds 10 times the median worker salary, with higher rates at thresholds of 50, 100, 200, and 500 times. Speke added: “Not only would this incentivise firms to scale back the levels of corporate wealth flowing to a small handful of individuals but also could be used to raise funds to be invested in education and early years provision, helping to tackle inequality at source.”
The High Pay Centre also advocates for broader reforms, including placing workers on company boards and requiring firms to disclose the number of employees paid below a living wage. In a direct message to the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, Speke said: “We 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. A failure to tackle such disproportionate and inefficient levels of inequality will only further reduce faith in our current economic model and help to accelerate the rise of right-wing populism.”
Top 10 Best-Paid FTSE 100 CEOs (2025/26)
The High Pay Centre's list includes Karim Bitar of Convatec, who passed away in late 2025 and was replaced by CFO Jonny Mason. The top 10 are: 1. Pascal Soriot (AstraZeneca) £17.7m; 2. Emma Walmsley (GSK) £15.7m; 3. C.S. Venkatakrishnan (Barclays) £15m; 4. Wael Sawan (Shell) £13.7m; 5. Bill Winters (Standard Chartered) £12.7m; 6. Charles Woodburn (BAE Systems) £12.4m; 7. Erik Engstrom (RELX) £11.4m; 8. Karim Bitar/Jonny Mason (Convatec) £11.2m; 9. Ken Murphy (Tesco) £10.8m; 10. Dominic Blakemore (Compass) £10.5m.
