BT chief executive Gavin Patterson trousers £2.3m package

BT boss Gavin Patterson is celebrating a £1 million hike in annual pay, weeks after swinging the axe on 13,000 jobs.

Patterson took home a total of £2.3 million last year after trousering a £1.3m annual bonus, according to the telecom giant’s annual report.

The pay packet also includes a £997,000 base salary and £299,000 in pension payments.

The chief executive’s take home pay compares with £1.3m the previous year, when he was stripped of his annual bonus following an accounting scandal at the firm’s Italian division.

The annual bonus was awarded for meeting a series of targets, including for customer service improvements and cash flow.

But it comes weeks after BT said it was culling 13,000 jobs as part of a revamped cost-cutting drive. The company said the job losses would mainly affect back office and middle management roles, with twothirds of the cuts set to fall on UK staff.

Remaining staff cuts are expected to impact on BT’S operations abroad. A BT spokesman said: “This has been a challenging year for the company but good progress has been made in a number of key areas.

“Gavin’s total remuneration for the year was £2.3m, as a result of targets being met for customer service improvement and cash flow.”

BT has around 106,400 employees globally. 0 Gavin Patterson: Said to have made progress in key areas