Blog • High Pay Centre

Blog

29.10.14

Is performance pay a 15-year experiment that has failed?

Performance-related pay does not work and in fact, could be counter-productive. The launch of our new report on performance pay last week prompted a lively discussion about whether bonuses and long-term incentives can produce the…

MinuteWorks

Blog

28.10.14

Pay at the top has become a self-enriching racket

The relationship between bonus increases and profit growth is virtually non-existent There are a number of difficult questions to grapple with when trying to establish whether or not the increasingly extraordinary sums of money paid…

MinuteWorks

Blog

23.10.14

New High Pay Centre report: Performance-related Pay is nothing of the sort

Research for High Pay Centre by Incomes Data Services shows that growth in executive pay, bonuses and incentive payments has vastly outpaced performance as measured by every indicator in common use A new report published…

MinuteWorks

Blog

23.09.14

High Pay Centre responds to Financial Conduct Authority consultation on banking

We argue that it is crucial to consider value and structure of bankers' pay when assessing potential threats to market integrity The Financial Conduct Authority is currently undertaking a review of competition in the wholesale…

MinuteWorks

Blog

23.09.14

Article: Is Lord Hill’s European Commission appointment really a victory for Britain?

A British European Commissioner with a remit to stick up for the interests of the City won't necessarily serve the interests of the country as a whole. HPC Deputy Director Luke Hildyard writes for Left…

MinuteWorks

Blog

21.08.14

Capitalism not Cronyism

Interview with Simon Walker, head of the Institute of Directors, in the Daily Mail. Simon is on the committee steering our project on performance-related pay. "Over the last decade, it has quadrupled without any clear…

MinuteWorks

Blog

18.08.14

FTSE 100 bosses now paid an average 130 times as much as their employees

High Pay Centre analysis suggests many top bosses are still paid hundreds of times as much as their staff Correction of error: The Randgold Resources CEO to worker pay ratio was incorrectly calculated by including employees of…

MinuteWorks

Blog

28.07.14

The nuclear option: We need to debate the idea of a maximum pay ratio

With gaping differences in pay persisting, is it time discuss the more radical idea of a maximum wage? HPC Deputy Director Luke Hildyard writes for the 'i' newspaper The minimum wage was recently voted the…

MinuteWorks

Blog

28.07.14

Is it time for a maximum pay ratio?

Executive pay has rocketed from around 60 times the average worker to more than 170 times. Would a maximum pay ratio redress the balance? The minimum wage was recently voted the most successful Government policy…

MinuteWorks

Blog

23.07.14

Cheques and the City: pay for top lawyers and accountants

New report from the High Pay Centre highlights the extent of multi-million pound pay packages at 'big 4' accountancy partnerships and 'magic circle' law firms Our new report shows how an estimated 1,370 top lawyers…

MinuteWorks

Blog

14.07.14

Reform Agenda: How to make top pay fairer

New report from High Pay Centre outlines policies to tackle excessive executive pay The Government should consider requiring companies to cap executive pay at a fixed multiple of their lowest-paid employee, according to a new…

MinuteWorks

Blog

16.06.14

What would the neighbours say? How inequality means the UK is poorer than we think

Analysis of OECD figures suggests the poorest fifth of the UK population are the poorest in Western Europe The poorest fifth of the UK population are significantly worse off than the poorest fifth in other…

MinuteWorks

Blog

10.06.14

How we can tackle the UK pay gap

The IMF has warned that low productivity is a threat to the UK recovery. That is a result of the bonus culture. It needs to be replaced by company-wide profit share. Blog by Deborah Hargreaves…

MinuteWorks

Blog

02.06.14

Government reforms fail to bring executive pay back to reality

Research from the High Pay Centre shows that average annual pay for a FTSE 100 CEO is still around £4.5 million, and could rise to nearly £6 million in 2014 Regulations introduced by the Coalition…

MinuteWorks

Blog

27.05.14

How can performance-related executive pay be made to work better?

A new project by the High Pay Centre, will look at the link between pay and performance. How can variable pay be re-designed to encourage the right sort of executive behaviour? We will explore what…

MinuteWorks

Blog

13.05.14

Explaining the data: the background to our new animation

Sources for the figures mentioned in our new animation, income inequality in the UK The growing pay gap The animation highlights the growing difference in pay for Brenda, an experienced nurse earning the UK’s average…

MinuteWorks

Blog

13.05.14

New film: Income inequality in the UK

A CEO takes home more in three days than one of his employees can earn in a whole year. Huge pay gaps in the UK lead to rising inequality, but it doesn't have to be…

MinuteWorks

Blog

12.05.14

The customer is always right: how to reduce executive rewards with procurement contracts

Government could use its power as a purchaser of outsourced services to demand executive pay restraint The size of the 'outsourcing market' for public services contracted by the state and delivered by private companies is…

MinuteWorks