NATIONAL: Workers need 160 years to earn chief executive's annual salary

An analysis of chief executives in FTSE 100 companies showed an average pay package of £4.5 million, down from £5.4 million in 2015.

However, a massive gap remains between the pay of chief executives and other employees.

It would take the average UK full-time worker on a salary of £28,000 (median full-time earnings) 160 years to earn what an average FTSE 100 CEO is paid in just one year, said the report.

The study, by the High Pay Centre think tank and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), also found there are just six women in the list, paid an average of £2.6 million, well below their male counterparts.

Stefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said the fall in average executive pay followed political pressure and hostile public opinion.

He said: ‘The response has been limited and very late. It is also, so far, a one-off. We need to see continued efforts to restrain and reverse excess at the top, and we should beware the ratcheting up of pay lower down the FTSE league table.

‘This helps nobody but a few lucky top executives.’