Bosses paid average UK salary in just TWO days

Bosses at Britain’s biggest companies will make more in the first two working days of 2026 than the average worker will take home in the entire year.

The growing pay gap between what chief executives and their employees earn will reignite the debate around ‘fat cat’ pay as shareholder revolts against boardroom excess surge.

According to The Mail on Sunday’s Fat Cat Files, the typical boss of a FTSE 100 firm earned £5.5million in 2024, the latest year for which data is available.

That is 141 times more than an average employee’s earnings of just over £39,000, as bosses’ earnings rose 11 per cent – more than twice the average for staff.

They are closing the gap on their US peers, who saw a 7.5 per cent rise, according to Institutional Shareholder Services, a proxy adviser. But the American median pay figure of $16million (£12million) still dwarfs theirs.

The biggest British gap was at Melrose, where boss Peter Dilnot bagged a £45.4million bonus under a controversial share-based bonus scheme.

His pay was more than 1,110 times what a worker at the aerospace group makes on average. In other words, Dilnot earned more in a few hours than they did all year.

Unsurprisingly, Melrose also saw the biggest pay revolt, when almost two-thirds of shareholders rejected the deal for Dilnot and three other executives.

Melrose said it now has a new remuneration policy, ‘fully aligned with FTSE 100 peers’.

In 2025, the number of significant shareholder protests at FTSE 100 companies – the register of the 100 biggest firms with shares listed on the London Stock Exchange – leapt from eight to 15, according to research firm Indigo Governance. 

‘The doubling of shareholder revolts against executive pay deals has been a defining trend of the year,’ said Indigo director Bernadette Young. 

‘There has been much talk of how higher pay across the pond has tempted high-performing executives away from UK shores, but shareholders have shown little sign of changing their attitudes.’

She warned that ‘with the cost of living continuing to rise for ordinary people, and market conditions remaining challenging for many companies, boards and their remuneration committees will remain under intense scrutiny in 2026’.

Fund manager Fidelity International, which oversees more than $1trillion (£750billion) in assets – much of it in listed companies in the FTSE 100 – has also cautioned UK company chairs against backing excessive pay.

The Government recently axed a public list naming and shaming firms hit by big shareholder revolts. One campaign group decried it as ‘another nail in the coffin’ for boardroom standards.

It followed pressure from corporate lobbyists who objected to big firms and their bosses being put on the ‘naughty step’ over issues such as executive pay, as it harmed their reputation.

In 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May ordered the Investment Association, a trade body that represents fund managers, to track listed companies where at least a fifth of investors had rebelled at their annual meeting.

The list was meant to improve transparency for shareholders, staff, and the public, and curb executive excess, as protest votes generally are not binding.

But in a surprise move the register was dropped this October ‘to remove duplication’ as part of a series of ‘pro-growth’ measures designed to cut red tape for firms, the Government said.