Board remuneration
Remuneration data for the 2024 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index is based on the most recent annual reports published before our cut-off date of 30 April 2024. All dates in this section refer to the publication year of the relevant Board Index, not the calendar year. Twelve companies in our sample pay board fees in currencies other than, or in combination with, sterling (usually US dollars or euros).
The average non-executive base fee is £78,271, representing a 2% increase over the £76,868 recorded in 2023. Endeavour Mining pays the highest non-executive director base fee of £170,000, and The Unite Group pays the lowest at £52,453.
The average chair fee increased by 2% also. The average total remuneration of the chair is 3.4x that of the senior independent director, and 5.6x that of the NED.
Most companies with a senior independent director on their board offer an additional fee for the role, plus committee memberships where applicable. The average additional fee is currently £28,046, a 2% decrease since 2023. Additional fees for SIDs range from £5,000 at LondonMetric Property and Games Workshop to £200,000 at HSBC Holdings.
The charts below show how chairs, SIDs, and NEDs at larger FTSE companies are paid substantially more than the mean. Details of pay levels at each company can be found in the company tables.
Chair fees by FTSE rank group
|
Fee |
Total
remuneration |
| 1–10 |
£847,683 |
£835,213 |
| 11–20 |
£657,432 |
£657,800 |
| 21–30 |
£542,635 |
£493,979 |
| 31–40 |
£579,237 |
£462,362 |
| 41–50 |
£429,117 |
£400,393 |
| 51–100 |
£365,766 |
£365,289 |
| 101–150 |
£338,933 |
£304,257 |
SID fees by FTSE rank group
|
Additional SID fee |
Total
remuneration |
| 1–10 |
£71,508 |
£245,606 |
| 11–20 |
£37,220 |
£187,700 |
| 21–30 |
£35,489 |
£164,094 |
| 31–40 |
£26,960 |
£166,029 |
| 41–50 |
£25,524 |
£123,852 |
| 51–100 |
£23,486 |
£111,444 |
| 101–150 |
£17,773 |
£102,417 |
Non-executive fees by FTSE rank group
|
Base fee |
| 1-10 |
£110,211 |
| 11-20 |
£89,637 |
| 21-30 |
£89,022 |
| 31-40 |
£83,889 |
| 41-50 |
£77,225 |
| 51-100 |
£73,423 |
| 101-150 |
£66,933 |
Committee remuneration
While nearly every company in our sample offers an additional fee to the chairs of both audit and remuneration committees, additional fees are only available to audit committee members on 66 boards and to remuneration committee members on 64 boards.
Average fees for other committees
|
Chair |
Change |
Member |
Change |
| Audit |
£26,339 |
0% |
£15,679 |
–1% |
| Remuneration |
£24,555 |
+1% |
£14,375 |
–1% |
| Nomination |
£18,507* |
–2% |
£11,148 |
0% |
* 46 companies pay a fee for chairing the nomination committee, a responsibility normally handled by the board chair who in most cases does not receive an additional fee for this activity.
Highest committee chair fees
Audit committee
- Barclays: £84,000
- GSK and Standard Chartered: £80,000
- HSBC Holdings: £78,750
- Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest: £75,000
- Investec: £74,000
Remuneration committee
- Standard Chartered: £80,000
- HSBC Holdings: £78,750
- Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest: £75,000
- Barclays: £73,500
- Prudential: £63,200
Risk committee
- HSBC Holdings: £150,000
- Barclays: £84,000
- Standard Chartered: £80,000
- Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest: £75,000
- Prudential: £72,680
60% (90) of boards have established subject-specific committees beyond the core committees (audit, remuneration, and nomination) and risk. The chair of Glencore’s health, safety, environment and communities committee receives the highest fee for chairing a subject-specific committee (£98,750). Risk committees are mainly found in financial services companies where the time commitment is significant, hence this committee carries the highest average fees for both the chair and members.
More details on sustainability-related committees can be found in the section on Sustainability-related committees.
Details of company-specific committee remuneration are available in the committee tables.