Latest CEO Salaries by Top UK Location

CEO’s (Chief Executive Officers) command the highest pay and incentives, unsurprisingly as they are the spearhead and visionary of the entire organisation. CEO’s are responsible for everything from long and short-term company performance to company culture, strategic planning, operations and finance. Most CEO’s report to a board of directors, and it is this group of people (usually the top shareholders and ultimate beneficiaries), who determine the hiring and firing of CEO’s, along with the remuneration.

CEO base salaries, for a number of reasons, can often be fairly modest. But it is the overall package that can set top CEO’s into the stratosphere. Additional remuneration factors can include equity share, performance-related bonuses, company car allowances and upon initial appointment, relocation support.

CEO’s and companies are often widely criticised for the disparity in CEO pay versus the rest of the workforce, but in most cases this only applies to the top 5% of companies, where CEO’s are paid in the millions for steering a global organisation to success. Some might say, these CEO’s are fully deserved of the package on offer, afterall, the buck stops with them. They are wholly responsible for what the company achieves and fails at during their tenure. The pressure is real, and it is quite often, lonely at the top.

Bringing some perspective to this topic, in this post we will be analysing the CEO pay situation in the UK, by top UK city. Of course, we will only be taking into account the average base salary. Figures shown here will not include any perks, equity, travel allowances or performance-related bonuses.

It should also be noted, that CEO pay is dependent on experience, sector and location. Whilst one sector might pay at the top end of the spectrum, there are a number of companies that simply do not have the means to match these salaries, often in this case, CEO’s are attracted to the role because of professional and personal reasons.

Take the Charity sector for example, CEO’s are willing to accept a lower remuneration for the greater good of what they represent and who they are driving success for.

OK, let’s take a look at the latest CEO Salaries by top UK location. The figures shown in this post are based on 1,890 CEO Salary Profiles, as of July 2022.

Average UK CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in the UK

Average London CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in London

Average Manchester CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in Manchester

Average Edinburgh CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in Scotland

Average Bristol CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in the Southwest

Average Belfast CEO Salary Range

Recent CEO Jobs in Northern Ireland

And so taking a look at the July 2022 figures, whilst the UK offers a generous average top-end salary of £158,000, London (unsurprisingly), trumps the rest of locations with an average high of £205,000. Being the financial capital of Europe, it’s understandable that the capital of the UK can remunerate on such a level. CEO’s across other locations mix up the work-life balance to benefit from a salary in proportion to their local cost of living. But in the current climate, we know that’s never been more of a challenge.

But what do the highest performing companies pay their CEO’s?

Well, that is a whole other story, when it comes to the FTSE 100.

Despite the challenges brought about by COVID, the median FTSE 100 CEO was paid £2.69 million in 2020, 86 times the median full-time worker in the UK. The figure represents a 17% fall from median CEO pay of £3.25 million recorded in 2019.

Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca was the highest earning CEO, making £15.45 million, ahead of Brian Cassin of Experian who made £10.3 million.

The 10 highest paid FTSE 100 CEOs in FYE 2020