Non-exec directors on pay panels are given bigger wage increases
NON-EXECUTIVE directors who sit on pay committees have given themselves an average pay rise of more than eight per cent in the last year, according to figures out today.
The typical non-exec of a FTSE 100 firm was awarded a 2.8 per cent pay rise to take their wages to £65,816 last year, the smallest raise in a decade, Income Data Services said.
Those who sit on remuneration committees were given an 8.8 per cent increase in their wages.
The average blue-chip chairman was paid 4.9 per cent more, and a senior independent director getting a raise could expect 7.6 per cent last year. While 57 companies did not review their non-executive fees at all last year, IDS said the pay rise figures take into account the non-execs whose pay was not changed.
“While fees for FTSE 100 NEDs are continuing to increase, the overall pace of growth seems to have slowed,” says Nasreen Rahman of IDS. “However, NED remuneration is built up by taking on extra responsibilities, so many NEDs are still seeing fairly sharp increases in their fees.”
The pay rises came in the same year that the government gave blue-chip shareholders the right to a binding vote on pay policies.