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The average total remuneration for chief executives of FTSE 100 companies increased to more than £5 million in 2024, driven by a global war for talent that has seen substantial pay deals emerge in the United States. The median pay rose from £4.6 million to £5.1 million, with some executives earning over £10 million, reflecting a shift in attitudes towards compensating top management.
City of London: FTSE 100 chief executives were paid more than £5 million this year on average, as British companies sought to compete in a war for talent that has handed bumper pay deals to US executives.
FTSE 100 chief executives were paid more than £5 million this year on average, as British companies sought to compete in a war for talent that has handed bumper pay deals to US executives. Median total remuneration for the bosses of Britain’s biggest listed companies rose to £5.1mn this year, according to analysis from advisory firm WTW, up from £4.6 million in 2025.
The increase follows a shift in attitudes among UK boardrooms and shareholders, who have proved more willing to wave through generous deals in order to avoid losing bosses to America. Some chief executives were paid more than £10 million this year. Those included Smith & Nephew’s chief executive Deepak Nath, whose maximum package rose to £15.3 mn and Rolls-Royce’s Tufan Erginbilgiç, whose total package could rise to £18.5 million.
Buswells losses and what we can expect from the budget Remuneration committees, including at Rolls-Royce, have justified large increases by citing the need to compete with the bumper pay on offer in the US, amid a growing anxiety about the UK’s competitiveness. Companies including Smith & Nephew and BAE Systems have pointed to the need to increase executive pay to prevent poaching by international rivals, or bosses being paid less than junior colleagues in the US, in annual reports this year.
Lord Jitesh Gadhia, chair of Rolls-Royce’s remuneration committee, this year said “competitive reward arrangements” were “essential to retaining our key talent”. WTW said activist investors and shareholder advisers were rebelling less on rising pay than they did several years ago. ISS, the influential shareholder proxy advisory group, recommended voting against remuneration policies in 15 per cent of cases this year, compared with 28 per cent in 2025, WTW said.
It added that only eight companies received “against” recommendations from ISS on remuneration resolutions, over 50 per cent fewer than the previous year. Cevian Capital, one of Europe’s largest activist investors, in August called for higher pay for non-executive directors in UK boardrooms as part of efforts to halt the decline of the London market.
FTSE 100 chief executive total pay fluctuated between £3 million and £4 million in the decade to 2020, before falling below £3 million in the year after the pandemic, according to WTW, but has since risen sharply. However, there is a growing pay gap between the largest and smallest FTSE-ranking businesses, with the boss of Whitbread, Dominic Paul, earning £3 million last year for running the £3.94 billion company.
Paul Townsend, a director at WTW, said that while median CEO pay had risen above £5 million, “the gap between the lowest and highest paid CEOs has widened”. This suggested “a growing dichotomy between companies who have felt the need to respond to the global war for talent by improving CEO pay competitiveness, whilst performing most strongly, and those who have not”, he said.
WTW’s analysis also showed that while environmental, social and governance metrics were still used to determine bonus awards, they were typically now wrapped into other measures. It said the use of a stand-alone diversity, equality and inclusion metric had declined by 40 per cent in remuneration policies in the past year.
Anna Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “Headline CEO pay figures will inevitably attract scrutiny, but the key question is whether pay is clearly linked to long-term performance, sustainable value creation and the interests of shareholders. ” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026Fresh fears for Dublin jobs as TikTok plans lay-offsPat Finucane inquiry to examine extent to which killers ‘protected or directed’ by British stateFrank McNally: Trump Tower? Doonbeg Castle’s turbulent history and mystery hoard of gold
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