The annual pay of FTSE 100 chief executives fell during the pandemic but still equates to what a key worker would earn in a lifetime, according to a report that highlights the UK’s wage divide and the taxpayer support that has kept some companies afloat.

The bosses of companies in the blue-chip share index were paid £2.69m on average in 2020, the High Pay Centre said, with vaccine-maker AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, taking top spot thanks to a £15.45m deal.

The average pay figure fell by 17% compared with the £3.25m recorded in 2019 but is still 86 times the £31,000 that an ordinary British worker can expect to earn in a year. The centre and the GMB trade union pointed to the gulf between executive rewards and ordinary wages, and raised concerns that some businesses offering bumper pay deals have relied on taxpayer backing during the pandemic.

Top chief execs ‘paid more in a year than a UK worker gets in a lifetime’ | Executive pay and bonuses | The Guardian