The pay of FTSE 100 chief executives has soared 23% in 2017, with the mean package worth £5.7m a year.

In comparison, mean salaries for all workers in the UK have gone up by just 2.5% to £29,009, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

It would now take the average UK worker 195 years to earn the same as the average FTSE 100 CEO, according to research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the High Pay Centre.

Excluding a couple of very large payouts, the median pay for chief executives rose 11% to £3.9m in 2017 from £3.5m in 2016.

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said: "Despite increased investor activism and the planned introduction of pay ratio reporting, the evidence suggests that very little is changing when it comes to top pay in the UK.


"It's disappointing to see that CEO pay has held up in the face of increasing pressure when average pay across the workforce has barely shifted in recent years.

"Given the ongoing issues of trust in big businesses and a push for greater transparency, it really is time businesses and boards put greater scrutiny on high pay, and that they think much more objectively about what they are rewarding CEOs and how."

The highest paid CEO in the financial year ending 2017 was Jeff Fairburn of Persimmon, who received £47.1m, more than 20 times his pay in 2016.

Simon Peckham of Melrose Industries received £42.8m, 43 times his previous year's single figure.

:: Firms will have to justify pay gap between bosses and staff

MP Rachel Reeves, who chairs the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, said: "Excessive executive pay undermines public trust in business.

"When CEOs are happily banking ever larger bonuses while average worker pay is squeezed, then something is going very wrong.

"Recent revolts on pay awards show that shareholders are increasingly sharing this frustration at unjustifiable pay awards. Executive pay must match performance.

"If Boards and Remuneration Committee chairs are so out of touch they are prepared to waive through off-the-scale reward packages, then shareholders must strike back and hold them to account. If businesses don't step up on executive pay, then Government will need to step in."

Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary, said: "These figures expose shocking excess in UK company boardrooms.

"We live in a country where company fat cats get paid 400 times more than the dedicated, hard-working carers who look after our nearest and dearest.

"Not to mention hundreds of times more than those who keep our streets clean, or ambulance workers who save lives.

"The fact that FTSE 100 CEO pay is rising five times faster than average wages is a badge of national shame."