Top bosses get 9 per cent pay rises

Britain's "fat cat" bosses saw their salaries soar by an average 9.3 per cent in the past year.

The inflation-busting increase - which easily outstrips the 3.9 per cent rise in average earnings for the workforce as a whole - means the annual wage for a full time chairman or chief executive at a FT-SE 100 firm has reached £574,000.

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

The highest-paid chief executive was Jean-Pierre Garnier, of GlaxoSmith-Kline, with total earnings of £3.4 million.

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