How Britain’s Corporate Elite Just Broke Pay Records—And What It Means for Your Wallet

Can you believe it? Executive paychecks in the UK’s biggest-listed companies have soared to heights that make most of us mere mortals do a double take. In the 2024-2025 financial year, the median CEO wage in FTSE 100 firms climbed to a record-smashing £4.58 million — that’s a 6.8% bump from the year before and the fourth consecutive year of sky-high pay. It’s wild to think the average FTSE 100 boss now earns a jaw-dropping 122 times the median full-time UK worker’s salary! And if that’s not eyebrow-raising enough, 13 companies are now handing out £10 million-plus pay packets, up from just ten last year. As someone who’s been dissecting business trends and SEO shifts for decades, I can’t help but muse—what does this say about corporate rewards versus real-world value? And what’s the real cost of such a paycheck balloon? Let’s dive in — it’s a story that’s as much about money as it is about power and perception. LEARN MORE

Pay for executives at Britain’s biggest-listed companies has hit a new record high, as more FTSE 100 firms paid top bosses at least £10m, analysis shows.

Median pay for chief executive officers of FTSE 100 companies was £4.58m in the 2024-2025 financial year.

This was a 6.8 per cent increase when compared with the previous year, and the highest level of pay on record, the UK’s High Pay Centre’s latest report showed.

It marks the fourth year in a row that UK chief executives have taken home a record amount. It also means that the average FTSE 100 chief executive is now paid 122 times the median UK full-time worker, according to the research.

There were 13 companies on the index of the UK’s top 100 listed firms paying their chief executives £10m or more — up from ten last year.

Among the highest-paid bosses in the UK is pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s chief Pascal Soriot, who took home a pay packet worth £14.7m in 2024.

Peter Dilnot, chief executive of aerospace giant Melrose Industries, earned a bumper £45.5m last year in pay and bonus awards.

Pay deals worth £200m for the company’s directors were rejected by shareholders in April.

Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce’s Tufan Erginbilgic took a nearly £10m reduction in his pay package in 2024, totalling £4.1m thanks to fewer share awards.

The High Pay Centre also found that, on a mean basis, pay for FTSE executives was £5.91m in 2024-2025.

This was a surge of 15.4% compared with the previous year, surpassing the previous record of £5.79m set in 2017-2018.

Nine companies had women chief executives for the entire financial year, with their median pay amounting to £3.27m.

The think tank said it was calling for “excessive spending on top earners” by leading UK firms to be addressed through reforms to corporate pay-setting rules.

This includes implementing the UK government’s Employment Rights Bill with measures ensuring trade unions have reasonable access to workplaces, and new rules requiring companies consistently to disclose the pay of their top earners.

(Pic: Getty Images)