Average pay for FTSE 100 chiefs jumps by 39% to £3.4m

Study shows median CEO package has surpassed pre-pandemic levels with rate 109 times that of average UK worker

Chief executives of the UK's 100 biggest companies have seen their pay jump by 39% to an average of 3.4m, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank and the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

The median average pay of CEOs of companies in the FTSE 100 index rose to 3.4m in 2021, compared with 2.5m in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when many bosses took a voluntary pay cut as they placed millions of employees on furlough. CEO pay has also surpassed the 3.25m median recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.