FTSE 100 bosses will have been paid as much money by noon today as ordinary workers in Britain can expect to be paid in a year.

The High Pay Centre (HPC), which monitors pay disparities between bosses and workers, says the best-paid 100 chief executive officers have had to work less than three days of 2025 to surpass the annual pay of the average worker.  

HPC’s damning report, issued today, estimates the top bosses’ median annual salary to be £4.22 million (excluding pension contributions), 113 times the median full-time worker’s pay of £37,430.

The calculations are based on the High Pay Centre’s analysis of the most recent chief executive officers’ pay disclosures published in companies’ annual reports, combined with government statistics showing pay levels across Britain’s economy.

High Pay Centre director Luke Hildyard said: “A feeling that the economy works for the enrichment of a tiny elite at the expense of wider society is an underrated cause of populist anger and support for extremist politics.

“Policymakers who fail to address this inequality are storing up some big problems for the future.” 

Trade Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Paul Nowak called for government action to “rein in boardroom greed.”

He said: “Every working person plays a part in producing Britain’s wealth.

“But while millions of low-paid workers are still feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, people at the top are taking more than their fair share.

“The government’s Employment Rights Bill will help many workers by improving pay bargaining rights and job security.

“We also need reforms to rein in boardroom greed, including seats for workers on executive pay committees.”

Andrew Speke, from the HPC, said: “Pay has risen so high over the last four decades as CEO pay became dependent on shareholder returns.

“Meanwhile, the weakening of worker and union rights led to lower trade unionisation.

“These factors have both undermined the growth of worker pay but also enabled extremely high rewards for CEOs.”

The High Pay Centre report also revealed the benefits of trade union membership, with union members being paid more than workers not in a union.

The HPC is promoting a “Charter For Fair Pay” which wants to see workers given places on company boards in Labour’s forthcoming Employment Rights Bill.

“Our ‘Charter for Fair Pay’ sets out a series of new policies for empowering workers, enabling a more participatory business culture, boosting pay and productivity and reducing income inequality,” HPC said.

The Charter’s recommendations include:

• Strengthening proposals in the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill to ensure employers provide workers with information on their workplace rights, and preventing them from manipulating votes on trade union recognition — based on similar proposals put forward in the US.

•Creating seats for worker directors on company boards, in line with rules that exist in most other European countries.

•Setting voluntary targets for worker share ownership and profit-sharing schemes, in line with similar targets for gender diversity on boards or pension fund investment in UK growth companies.

•Making rules on pay disclosure more consistent, by requiring large private employers to provide greater transparency on the pay of their highest earners.