War on Want has long understood that decent work and a living wage represent not only basic rights, but are also key to escaping poverty.

It is why tomorrow will see us join the Trades Union Congress (TUC) march and rally Britain Needs a Pay Rise.

Reports this week that pay for the foremost British company bosses rocketed last year by 21 per cent to an average £2.4 million total earnings come as a kick in the teeth for people struggling to feed their families on low wages.

Figures published by Incomes Data Services revealed the increases fuelled by share-based remuneration for executives with the top 100 firms listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Since the current millennium began, average full earnings for the FTSE 100 chiefs has soared by a huge 278 per cent — today worth 120 times more than average full-time employees’ wages — compared to the year 2000 multiple of 47 times.

In addition, the annual Credit Suisse global wealth report last Wednesday indicated Britain as the only country in the G7 group of leading economies where inequality has grown this century.

According to the Bank of England (BoE), average weekly pay in real terms has fallen by 5 per cent below the level that applied when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed their coalition after the 2010 general election.

Moreover, Mark Carney, the BoE governor, told delegates at last month’s TUC annual conference in Liverpool that workers have experienced the deepest cut in wages since the 1930s, the decade noted for hunger marches.

The charity Trussell Trust says one million people now rely on food banks, most of them the working poor.

And the TUC itself, cited last Sunday figures worse than Carney’s admission — claiming British workers are suffering the longest and severest fall in real earnings since the mid-Victorian era.

Yet George Osborne — himself on £134,000 a year — plans another £3 billion annual cuts, costing working families with children as much as £490 a year in child benefit and tax credits.

Only days ago Paul Lewis, the BBC Moneybox radio programme host, warned that the minimum wage rise to £6.50 an hour could mean part-time workers caring for a friend or relative could lose more than £60 a week.

Many workers took industrial action this week — such as midwives, for the first time — against the government’s decision to reject even just a 1 per cent increase recommended by the independent review body.

This included Cheshire — the county that features the Chancellor’s Tatton constituency — with Unison north-west health workers’ leader Paul Foley speaking out for his members.

Foley said: “Families are suffering and morale is hitting rock bottom. A well-motivated workforce saves lives. So we need to cherish and support our NHS staff, who work day in, day out, caring for others.

“The NHS runs on the goodwill of its workers. But this government has shown utter contempt for them by refusing to give any pay increase to the vast majority this year and next.

“NHS members don’t take action often, or lightly, but they have been put in a position where they feel they simply have to take a stand.”

While Osborne inflicts misery on the have-nots, he continues to let companies dodge billions of pounds in tax which could ensure fair wages and adequate resources for vital public services.

A staggering £20 trillion is now held by wealthy individuals in “secrecy jurisdictions,” better known as tax havens. 

This sum is equivalent to more than 13 times the annual output of the British economy. 

If this cash was taxed, the money could generate as much as £180 billion a year in revenue, more than twice the amount rich countries spend on overseas aid.

Britain plays a central role in this “offshore” system, with its own network of island jurisdictions such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands ranking among some of the most significant tax havens in the world. 

The City of London itself acts as the nerve centre for these havens and supports a veritable army of lawyers and accountants devoted to helping companies dodge tax.

Rather than make the working poor scapegoats through further austerity measures, the Chancellor should target the fat cats who cream off the windfalls that widen social divisions.