Docklands overtakes City for pay

Financial workers in Docklands have overtaken those in the City to become the best paid in Britain.

That means they were paid just under £2,000 more than the average City worker, who received £64,178.

The latest statistics mark a huge shift in the balance of power between the traditional Square Mile and its Canary Wharf offshoot. The figures, published today by the Office for National Statistics, also show that average pay in Tower Hamlets soared by almost 20 per cent last year, while City pay dropped by 0.1 per cent.

It is, in part, a result of the huge migration of bankers, lawyers and brokers from the high-rent offices of the City to the cheaper accommodation of Docklands at locations such as Canary Wharf and South Quays. Huge firms such as global banks HSBC, Barclays, CSFB, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, law firm Clifford Chance and the US solicitors Skadden Arps have all relocated to Docklands.

The area's status as the bestpaid part of Britain is all the more extraordinary as the average for Tower Hamlets will include many relatively poorlypaid workers outside the financial district.

Today's figures also show annual earnings across Britain as a whole for full-time employees-rose by 4.2 per cent last year to an average of ?26,903. The average for workers in London rose 4.5 per cent to ?39,107.

However, the figures are hugely skewed by the tens of thousands of very highly paid workers in the financial services. Stripping them out, the figure would be closer to ?30,000.

After the City and Docklands, the highest-paid workers in London are in Islington, where average pay is ?53,311.

Outside London, the best-paid workers are along the "M4 corridor" west of the capital.