Bosses' pay soars 23% as shares plunge

The bosses of Britain's top 100 companies received pay increases of 23 per cent last year.

Their average salary was £1.6 million, while the stock market value of their companies plunged by 24.4 per cent.

The chief executives' pay rose seven times faster than that of their employees, whose average earnings increased by 3.2 per cent.

Pay in the boardroom of the 100 FTSE companies has risen two thirds in three years, the survey for the Guardian shows, while stock market value has fallen 50 per cent.