FTSE 100 companies continue to increase executive pay opportunities in a competitive global talent market

FTSE 100 companies continue to increase executive pay opportunities in a competitive global talent market

• 29% (16 out of the sample of 55) are looking to significantly increase incentive levels for executive directors, with a median increase of 200% of salary to maximum incentive levels.
• The median FTSE 100 CEO package increased by 18% – from £5.01m in 2024 to £5.89m in 2025¹ .

Deloitte analysis shows that FTSE 100 companies are continuing to seek increases and changes to executive pay: 26 out of 55 companies that have already published their FY25 reports are seeking shareholder approval for new binding remuneration policies. This includes six companies that are ‘going early’ and putting remuneration policies to the vote before they are legally required to.

There continues to be a substantial number of companies seeking to increase maximum incentive levels, with 16 of the 26 proposing significant increases (with a median increase of 200% of salary). These increases are usually only delivered if performance targets for the long-term incentive plan are met.

Mitul Shah, partner in Deloitte’s Executive Remuneration and Reward practice, said: “We continue to see a significant number of companies propose substantial changes to variable pay opportunities in order to retain and attract the best people in an increasingly competitive global market. In some cases, increases have been accompanied by an increase in the stretch of performance targets and/or an increase in weighting on financial metrics. It is likely that the largest global companies will continue to keep their executive remuneration packages under review to ensure they remain competitive.

“Over the last two AGM seasons we have seen investors be more willing to hear companies make their case and to support their proposals based on individual company circumstances, particularly where the increases are linked to stretching targets that need to be achieved to deliver the payouts. We expect this trend to continue into the upcoming AGM season.”

FTSE 100 CEO packages

The median actual FTSE 100 CEO package increased by 18%, from £5.01m in 2024 to £5.89m in 2025².

The median CEO annual bonus payout was 76% of maximum (2024: 78%). A fifth of the companies used discretion and judgement to reduce bonuses to reflect performance factors such as health and safety, ESG factors or risk and governance issues (with 11% of these cases relating to fatalities). There were no cases of upwards discretion being used to materially increase bonus outcomes.

Median long-term incentive vesting – the extent to which performance conditions are achieved under long-term incentive plans – was 68% of maximum (2024: 73%). Under UK Corporate Governance Code requirements, shares will not generally be released to executives for a further two years.

Most (65%) CEO salary increases for 2026 are projected to be in line with or just below the average workforce increase, with a median increase of 3.0%. Ten companies are implementing significant one-off salary adjustments for their CEOs and/or CFOs, and are granting above workforce salary increases, in order to reflect changes in company circumstances or alignment to market.

Companies continue to reflect on how they balance incentivising the delivery of their sustainability/ESG³ strategies against the delivery of strong financial performance and other strategic priorities such as encouraging AI adoption. Twenty companies are reducing the weighting on ESG metrics in their incentive schemes (with 24 making no changes); and 11 companies are removing at least one of ESG metrics from their incentive schemes (with 21 making no changes).

ENDS

Notes to editors

Deloitte’s “2026 AGM season – FTSE 100 early insights” analysis includes remuneration data in respect of 55 companies with financial years ending on or after 13 September 2025 and who had published their Annual Report prior to 25 March 2026. For comparison, last year's data is based on the same group of companies.

UK regulations require quoted companies to follow specific rules for reporting on directors' pay. These companies must have a directors' remuneration policy, which shareholders vote on at least every three years. They must also produce an annual report on directors' remuneration for the past financial year. This report also explains how the current policy will be implemented in the coming year and is subject to an advisory shareholder vote.

¹ Based on Deloitte analysis from the first 55 companies to publish their 2025 annual reports (from 13 September 2025).

² In accordance with UK reporting regulations, total CEO pay packages (single figure total remuneration) reported for 2025 include estimated values of long-term incentive awards. Total CEO pay packages for 2024 (median £5.01m for this sample) are based on the actual values re-stated by companies in 2025.

³ Environmental, Social, or Governance related metric