The annual Manifest Total Remuneration Survey is now out.

The average pay of the UK’s top CEOs has fallen by more than 10% to £5.1m, though concerns remain this figure is still too high.

The latest Manifest Total Remuneration Survey, now published by Minerva, is regarded as the authoritative study on UK executive pay, showed CEOs of the 100 largest UK companies were paid a combined total of just over £500m in the 2018/2019 financial year.

While the
average pay dropped 11% from the previous year’s figure of £5.7m, the majority
of stakeholders and a number of fund managers still consider this pay to be
unnecessarily high, the report stated.

According to the survey, executive pay is now back to the lower levels seen in 2014 after increasing 18% in 2018. “The main reason for this is the extreme outliers have been curtailed,” the report states. These ‘outliers’ include companies such as housebuilder Persimmon, advertising firm WPP and Reckitt Benckiser who have all come under pressure to reign in their huge CEO remuneration packages.

The report noted that the government’s focus on governance changes has encouraged shareholders in the UK to exercise their powers to control CEO pay. “Today, very few remuneration committee chairs would agree a pay policy that might result in very high pay, unless performance is truly exceptional,” the report said.

The survey also
revealed share-based pay now makes up the majority of FTSE 100 CEO pay, with long-term
investment plans (LTIs) representing around £2.7m of the £5.1m average.

The Manifest Total Remuneration Survey

Although the UK has adopted a "Single Figure of Total Remuneration", the survey also looked at the Total Remuneration Awarded (TRA), which measures the expected value of pay awards, and is therefore seen as a better predictor of future executive remuneration.

While it found TRA has declined 1% per year since 2013 to £4.025m, the long-term picture shows TRA has increased by 2% per year since 2004. In comparison, total shareholder return (TSR) increased by 6.9% per annum since 2004, indicating shareholders have done better than CEOs over this period.

The Manifest Total Remuneration Survey

The Manifest total remuneration survey uses data collated by Minerva's analysts during the AGM season and which supports Minerva's comprehensive A-F say on pay rating which is closely aligned with voting outcomes. To find out more about Minerva's approach to remuneration analysis and to receive a sample report, email hello@minerva.info