Top UK executives get handsome pay hikes even as companies cut costs

Executives at top companies in the UK saw their salaries rise 10 per cent last year, despite the worst global recession in decades, in which wiped out almost a third of company values, while and the FTSE plunged to record lows.

According to the Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay full and part-time directors of the FTSE 100, the premier league of British business, made upwards of £1 billion between them.

Bonus payouts were lower, but the basic salary hikes were more than three times the 3.1 per cent average pay rise for the ordinary private sector worker. The big rise in directors' basic pay that was more than double the inflation rate last year came even as pay freezes came into effect across many companies and redundancy programmes were afoot to slash costs.

Guardian data also showed that a group of top bracket bosses of multinational corporations are grossing even higher overall pay packets with the 10 most highly paid executives earning £170 million between them, which was up from £140 million in 2007. Five years ago the top 10 grossed £70 million.

According to Liberal Democrat treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, the analysis exposed the 'breathtaking cynicism' in executive pay deals that relate neither to personal performance nor company performance but are mostly about people who are very well off helping themselves to larger salaries even as the companies they manage are implementing wage cuts.

The highest paid executive last year was Bart Becht, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, with £36.8 million in pay, bonuses, perks and share incentive schemes. Becht, 53, has been a regular in the top grossing executives list for several years, earning more than £80 million during the last three years.