LONDON, Aug 19, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Britain's bluechip firms last year slashed

chief executive pay as the pandemic struck but the head of Covid vaccine
maker AstraZeneca still pocketed a chart-topping o15.45 million, a survey
showed Thursday.

  With many businesses plunging into sharp losses as the world suffered
lockdowns, CEOs of London's biggest listed companies saw median annual pay
drop 17 percent, the High Pay Centre think tank said.

  However AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot managed to earn the
equivalent of $21.25 million or fifty percent more than his nearest
challenger -- Brian Cassin, the CEO at credit-rating group Experian.

  The High Pay Centre campaigns for a narrowing of the huge gap between CEO
and ordinary workers' wages in Britain.

  "Very high CEO pay reflects a wider gap between rich and poor in the UK
than in most other European countries," said High Pay Centre Director Luke
Hildyard.

  "The inequalities exposed by the pandemic and the volume of public money
used to protect large businesses could strengthen the argument for measures
to contain top pay and re-balance extreme income differences."

  The survey showed that median CEO pay was 86 times median earnings for a
full-time worker in the UK.

  The High Pay Centre said average CEO pay at nine blue-chip companies that
claimed support through the government's furlough jobs support scheme was
o2.39 million.

  The UK government has spent billions of pounds paying the bulk of wages for
private-sector staff during the pandemic in a scheme due to end next month.

  The highest paid female CEO last year was meanwhile Emma Walmsley, who
earned o7.0 million as boss of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

  Only six out of 100 companies on the blue-chip index have a female CEO.

  Median chief executive pay last year was o2.69 million among the 100
companies surveyed.