Report cited in the Financial Times and Financial News, May 2022. 

This report identifies executive remuneration trends in the FTSE 350 by analysing the first 50 Directors’ Remuneration Reports published in 2022, and comparing these with the reports for the prior year, for these same companies. These companies represent around 18 percent of the FTSE 350 (excluding investment trusts) and are sufficiently representative to give an indication of the developing trends for 2022.

The companies in the sample have year-ends that mainly fall in the period September to December 2021. Forty-four percent of the sample are in the FTSE 100 and fifty-six percent in the FTSE 250. 

The key trends we have identified, and which are set out in more detail on the following pages, are as follows:

• Significantly higher base salary increases for 2022 compared to 2021, both for executive directors and the wider workforce, although increases are below price inflation levels.
• Substantial increase in executive director annual bonus pay-outs compared with bonuses for 2020.
• Performance share plan pay-out levels remain relatively depressed.
• Majority of the sample had ESG performance criteria for FY21 in either the annual bonus or long-term incentive plan (LTIP), or both.
• The downward alignment of executive director pension to the workforce level, including commitments to align from the end of this year, is almost complete.
• Seventeen percent of new Directors’ Remuneration Policies submitted in 2022 by companies in the sample include a Restricted Stock Unit (RSU) plan for executive directors.

A&M invites you to explore these and other developments in our latest report Latest Executive Remuneration Trends – Analysis of First 50 DRRs of 2022.