A number of major UK companies announced massive CEO pay awards in the first quarter of 2025, including Pearson, Astrazeneca, Barclays and Natwest. Our research suggests that of the nine FTSE 100 companies publishing details of a pay policy in Q1 to be put to a vote at their forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), six are seeking shareholders’ permission to increase the value of bonus and incentive payments.
Last year HPC launched the Fair Reward Framework, in partnership with a number of asset owners concerned about excess CEO pay and wider stakeholder confidence in corporate pay practices. The FRF will assess the pay outcomes and governance processes at FTSE 100 companies – covering not just CEO pay awards, but practices including CEO to worker pay ratios, trade union relationships, living wage accreditation, corporate tax contribution and worker involvement in the top pay setting process. The assessments will be published on a dedicated Fair Reward Framework website and mailed to subscribers (sign up for free).
We are also intending to engage with some of these companies at their 2025 AGMs, raising the topic of worker voice in business decision-making, and raised the topic of worker voice in corporate governance at the Ocado AGM last week. Our ‘Charter for Fair Pay‘ published in Autumn notes how the UK ranks 26th out of 28 European countries for worker participation in business decision-making.
Pay and employment practices look set to be a prominent theme of AGMs taking place over the coming months – a coalition of investors managing over £1tn in assets, led by ShareAction, has filed shareholder resolutions at Next, M&S, and JD Sports, urging them to disclose how many employees and third-party staff earn below the real living wage. These resolutions aim to improve transparency and working conditions in the retail sector. Our board member Tom Powdrill sets out the case for why shareholders should support the resolution at Next via this LinkedIn article.
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