More cream for fat cat bosses

BRITAIN'S 'fat cat' bosses saw their salaries soar by an average 9.3% in the past year. The inflation-busting increase - which easily outstrips the 3.9% rise in average earnings for the workforce as a whole - means the annual wage for a full time chairman or chief executive at a FTSE 100 firm has reached £574,000.

Many also enjoyed a lucrative bonus, with the average award being 46.5% of the base salary. Total earnings, including cash bonuses, rose from £781,000 to £869,000 over the last 12 months - a rise of 11.7%.

The highest-paid chief executive was Jean-Pierre Garnier, of GlaxoSmithKline, with total earnings of £3.4m.

The survey was compiled by Monks Partnership, a consultancy arm at accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, using annual reports filed in the past year.