These are Britain's most highly paid CEOs

The pay packages of the bosses of some of Britain’s largest companies have been revealed in research by the High Pay Centre.

The research shows that the pay gap in the biggest companies between CEOs and their average employee has tripled over the past 15 years.

Sir Martin Sorrell was the most highly paid in the report, receiving £43m in total annual pay. The next highest paid was Ben Van Beurden, of Shell, receiving £19.5m a year.

The director of the High Pay Centre, Deborah Hargreaves, said the threefold increase could not be explained by improved performance:

The only reason why their pay has increased so rapidly compared to their employees is they are able to get away with it.

The High Pay Centre estimates that average pay for bosses in 2013 was 174 times that of the average UK worker.

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