Average annual salary of FTSE chiefs revealed

The row over executive pay has been reignited after it emerged that rewards for blue-chip bosses rose 12% to an average of £4.8 million last year.

The remuneration for chief executives in 2011 far outweighed the 1% average rise for their employees and came despite a 5% fall in the FTSE 100 Index, according to a report by proxy voting agency Manifest and remuneration consultancy MM&K.