Exclusive: Salaries for Top Executives Are Rocketing 'Out of Control'
THE INDEPENDENT: A new investigation shows pay inequality is accelerating in Britain, with top bosses set to earn 215 times the average wage by 2020. It also demolishes the arguments they put forward to support their astonishing incomes

Britain's bosses are pocketing an increasing portion of the nation's income, according to a report from the High Pay Commission to be published tomorrow. As the majority of people in the country face the largest drop in household income for three decades, a tiny minority at the top are awarding themselves a growing slice of the UK's wealth.

The top one thousandth of the British working population currently receives 5 per cent of the country's earnings, a ratio equivalent to that in the 1940s, the report says. If these trends continue, income for the highest paid will account for 14 per cent of the country's total by 2030 – the same proportion as in 1900.

The independent commission was set up in November to scrutinise the rising pay of those at the top. Its first report concludes that during the decade Labour was in power, income at the top grew by 64.2 per cent, while that of an average earner increased by 7.2 per cent over the same period.

The study accuses businesses and governments of having "failed to tackle the dramatic growth in pay at the top" despite growing public anger at the gulf between soaring rewards for executives and tightening circumstances for the rest of the country.

The conclusions will be a blow to David Cameron's attempts to emphasise that "we're all in this together". The Government has appeared flat-footed in its attempts to persuade senior executives and bankers to curb the pay and bonuses they award themselves, particularly as the effects of the recession are still being keenly felt by the rest of the country. » | Emily Dugan | Sunday, May 15, 2011

Let's Make CEOs Justify Their Wages
THE GUARDIAN: If business leaders had to explain why they are worth their extravagant salaries, we might see an end to corrosive inequality

When an economy is booming, unjustifiable inequalities in pay can easily escape our attention. In these straitened times, with big cuts in public services about to hit the most vulnerable, it is time to look more carefully at how work is rewarded in our society. We need to realise that recognising the significance of incentives should not lead to acceptance of the daylight robbery that passes for executive compensation today. A good place to start is by looking at corporate governance.

The facts about income inequality in the UK are nothing less than mind-boggling. The average income of a FTSE 100 chief executive, according to the most recent Guardian survey of executive pay, is over £3m per year, including bonuses and pension contributions. This is more than 100 times median household income. It is not uncommon for CEOs to run 200 or 300 times as much as the median pay of their employees or, in the case of Terry Leahy's final year at Tesco, for a CEO to be paid 500 times the average take-home pay of his colleagues.

Moreover, executive pay continues to march relentlessly upwards, unconnected to skill, judgment or underlying profitability. While the FTSE lost a third of its value in the year to September 2009, executive pay rose 10% during the same period. According to the Work Foundation, the ratio of average CEO pay to average UK earnings rose from 10:1 in 1980 to 75:1 in 2006 (and has continued to grow since). In short, the gains of economic growth are becoming increasingly concentrated in a small number of hands, while the wages of ordinary people have stagnated.

Should we care? New Labour's answer, famously encapsulated by Peter Mandelson, is that we should be "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich". Looking at runaway top-pay with a clear eye on its social and political consequences, Mandelson's claim looks as short-sighted as it is wrong-headed. Read on and comment >>> Martin O’Neill | Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Whatever happened to conscience? No responsible chief executive would feel good about siphoning off the cream for himself and leaving the worker bees with the crumbs. But these days, it seems that 'responsible' and 'CEO' are mutually exclusive concepts.

Taken to the extreme, this situation could eventually lead to revolution. History shows this to be so. Revolutions occur where extreme wealth and extreme poverty collide. The British are very complacent people, especially by comparison with the French, who have currently taken to the streets. But even a worm will turn. The élite shouldn't push their luck. – © Mark

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Exec Pay Up - Performance Down
SKY NEWS: Bosses of Britain's top 100 listed companies have seen their pay rise dramatically the last two years, despite a drop in performance targets.