Insurer will publish its pay ratios

LEGAL & General is planning to become the first major UK company to disclose how much more its chief executive earns than rank-and-file employees.

The insurer intends to publish the ratio in March when it updates investors on boss Nigel Wilson’s pay for last year in its annual report, according to Bloomberg. In 2015, Wilson earned £5.5m. The move follows calls by Prime Minister Theresa May for a crackdown on excessive executive pay, including proposals to give shareholders more say over compensation.

The Government is considering requiring companies to compare the highest-paid employee’s remuneration with the average worker’s. Some firms oppose the publication of pay ratios, saying they could be misleading because of variations in employee skills and incomes in different industries.