‘Gold-plated pensions’ for directors

It found that executives in FTSE 100 firms received average annual pensions worth around £175,000.

The annual median pension from a private sector final salary pension averages £5,860 for the rest of the workforce, according to the research, conducted by pay analysts Incomes Data Services.

Over 97 per cent of executive directors in FTSE 350 companies have company-sponsored pension arrangements, compared with a third of private sector employees. Deborah Hargreaves, chairman of the High Pay Commission, said: “Companies are increasingly paying their executives generous cash supplements instead of pensions to get round restrictions on tax relief introduced in the last few years.

“Directors are receiving gold-plated pensions while retirement provision for the workforce has been slashed.”