THE GMB union warned that “massive inequalities” are blighting British society yesterday after it was revealed that top bosses earn more in a year than average workers do in a lifetime.

According to analysis from the High Pay Centre (HPC) think tank, the median pay of chief executives in FTSE-100 firms was £2.69 million last year — a staggering 86 times the average full-time wage. 

This was despite wages for the highest earners slumping by 17 per cent as the Covid-19 pandemic hit in spring 2020. The average bonus size also fell from £1.1m in 2019 to £828,000 last year, the think tank said.

HPC director Luke Hildyard said high pay for Britain’s chief executives reflected the wide gap between rich and poor in Britain, with a far greater disparity than is seen in most other European countries.

Payouts were still high last year despite modest falls, and came at a time when “government support for the economy has probably been more important to the survival and success of the UK's biggest companies than the decisions of their executives,” Mr Hildyard said. 

The research showed that average top-boss earnings at the nine FTSE-100 companies that used the furlough scheme to pay staff were a whopping £2.39m.

Pascal Soriot of pharma giant AstraZeneca was the highest-earning chief executive, making £15.45m last year.

He was considerably ahead of Brian Cassin of credit reference agency Experian, who was forced to get by on £10.3m, the data showed.

Responding to the research, GMB general secretary Gary Smith said that the pandemic had highlighted “massive inequalities that exist in our society.

“If this government is serious about a levelling-up agenda, ministers must make sure our NHS and local government workers get a proper pay rise, while legislating to close the obscene pay gap in the private sector.”

Despite lauding the efforts of key workers during the crisis, the Tory government has introduced a public-sector pay freeze.

Most NHS staff in England and Wales are exempt and have been offered a three per cent rise. Their colleagues in Scotland have received a four per cent offer.

Unions point out that this does not make up for a decade of austerity pay, which has seen wages decline by up to 15 per cent on 2010 levels.