Fairer executive pay

sir – You report (May 19) on a revolt by shareholders against the £6.4million paid to the CEO of Lloyds last year, a sum that is 95 times the pay of the average employee. This puts average pay at around £61,000 – which, for a high street bank, presumably consists of many on lowish pay and a few on very high pay.

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company began with a policy that no one should earn more than five times the pay of the lowest-paid worker. This proved unsustainable when the company grew and needed to hire a new executive.

However, you also reported recently that Cordant Group has set a policy that no one should earn more than 20 times the wage of the lowest-paid worker. This seems a workable compromise, giving generous reward at the top while reining in excesses seen elsewhere. Roger Hannaford

Haddenham, Buckinghamshire