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New polling by the High Pay Centre shows support for action on top pay

By 29.01.12BlogSeptember 2nd, 2020No Comments

Just 7% think a FTSE 100 chief executive should be paid more than £1m per year

Britain’s bosses’ pay is hugely out of line with what the public believes is justified.

Of those questioned just 7% of people think that a chief executive of a FTSE 100 company should be paid more than £1m per year, including all bonuses and pension contributions. Only 1% of people questioned felt that Britain’s bosses were worth the £4m plus that represents the FTSE 100 CEO’s current average annual reward.

The High Pay Centre today launches its plan to monitor top pay, and drive the debate about fair rewards for executives and business success, as announced by Vince Cable in Parliament. It will build on the strong evidence base developed by the High Pay Commission which looked into top pay in a year long enquiry and published its 12-point plan to tackle the issue at the end of 2011.

Today’s research shows widespread public support for key reforms with 66% agreeing that there should be wider representation including from workers on remuneration committees and 70% supporting “binding powers” for ordinary shareholders to block pay packages for senior executives.

Deborah Hargreaves, Director of the High Pay Centre, said:

“Top executive pay and the behaviour of business are issues at the heart of the current public debate about how we rebuild our economy. Our polling shows the public do not believe executives, even of the biggest companies should be awarded multi-million pound pay packages. It is time for boardrooms to wake up to what is fair and act now to rebuild public trust.”

ICM interviewed a random sample of 2003 adults aged 18+ from its online panel between 20th – 22nd January 2012.  Surveys were conducted across Great Britain and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk