We’re barely into January right now, and many of us are still skint after the excesses of Christmas and New Year.

There are certain people, however, who are very flush indeed: The UK’s top CEOs.

Today is Fat Cat Friday, which is the day of the year that their salary exceeds the average UK annual wage. Fantastic.

By 1pm today, bosses of FTSE 100 companies will have made more money than the average British person does in a year, according to a report by the High Pay Centre think tank and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).




The report found that these CEOs make roughly £3.9 million a year, which works out at around £1,020 per hour.

This is in contrast to the average for staff across Britain which is £29,574 , and the national living wage which is £7.83 hourly.

The figure for chief exec pay is up 11% since last year, compared to generally stagnating wages for a large number of workers.

These numbers – which see FTSE CEOs taking home 133 times what many people do – show just how large the gap between the richest and poorest in our society has become.

On top of that, only 6 of these 100 executives are women, which has highlighted the gender pay gap once again.

Union bosses have waded in with criticisms, with GMB general secretary, Tim Roache, saying: ‘It’s not fair, and it makes no sense in how we value people’s contribution to society and it makes no sense for the economy – I don’t know any care workers who squirrel their wages away in offshore accounts, they spend it in their local areas and on paying their bills.’

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, also said: ‘Excessive pay packages awarded by remuneration committees represent a significant failure in corporate governance and perpetuate the idea of a ‘superstar’ business leader when business is a collective endeavour and reward should be shared more fairly.

‘Stakeholders of all kinds, including many shareholders, are looking for significant shifts in corporate cultures and behaviours.’

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