May urged to put workers on company boards over 'stratospheric' directors' pay

Directors' pay has reached "stratospheric" levels, with top bosses receiving a year's worth of the minimum wage in just one day, a study has revealed.

The average boss of a FTSE 100 company is paid 123 times the average full-time salary across the economy, according to the TUC.

The research showed that the median pay package, excluding pensions, of a top FTSE 100 director increased by 47% in the five years to 2015, to £3.4 million, compared with 7% for average wages.

It took Britain's highest paid chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, less than 45 minutes to earn what an average worker receives in a year, said the TUC.

The report, published ahead of the start of the TUC Congress in Brighton, said the gap between the pay of top directors and workers is "stark".

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "While millions of UK families have seen their living standards squeezed, directors' pay has reached stratospheric levels.

"These shocking new figures show why (Prime Minister) Theresa May must deliver on her promise to put workers on company boards.

"This would inject a much-needed dose of reality into boardrooms and help put the brakes on the multimillion pay packages that have damaged the reputation of corporate Britain.

"Other European countries already require workers on boards, so UK firms have nothing to fear. It improves performance and contributes to companies' long-term success."

A Government spokesman said Prime Minister Theresa May had told the G20 summit earlier this week: "To restore greater fairness, we will bring forward a consultation this autumn on measures to tackle corporate irresponsibility, cracking down on excessive corporate pay and poor corporate governance, and giving employees and customers representation on company boards."