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Five- and ten-year trends

2023 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index

The 2023 UK Spencer Stuart Board Index is a comprehensive review of governance practice in the largest 150 companies in the FTSE rankings by market value at 30 April 2023. The chart below provides a unique perspective on the extent to which a range of key metrics have changed over the past five and ten years.

Five and ten year trends

Board composition
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
Average board size 10.2 10.1 10.3 0.99% -0.97%
Independent directors (excl. Chair) 94% 94% 95% -0.42% -1.05%
Combined CEO/chair 0% 1% 0.70% -100% -100%
Senior independent director 99% 100% 98% -0.67% 1.36%
Age
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
Average age non-executives 60.9 60.6 59 0.5% 3.22%
Average age executives 54.9 54.2 52 1.29% 5.58%
Foreign directors
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
% foreign directors: all 35% 34% 32% 4.17% 9.37%
Boards with at least one foreign non-executive director 80% 81% 79% -0.87% 0.88%
Boards with at least one foreign executive director 43% 45% 48% -5.08% -10.42%
Boards with at least one foreign director 81% 83% 84% -2.76% -3.57%
Women directors
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
% women directors: all 40% 28% 18% 45.45% 122.22%
% women directors: non-executives 46% 39% 23% 19.48% 100%
% women directors: executives 16% 9% 6% 88.24% 190.91%
Female chair 15% 4% 1% 284.62% 1053.85%
Female CEO 12% 5.3% 4% 126.42% 200%
Companies with at least one female director 100% 100% 93% 0% 7.53%
Committees
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
% boards with more than 3 committees 67% 58% 55% 15.52% 22.49%
Tenure
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
Average non-executive tenure (years) 4.1 4.1 4.3 0% -4.65%
Remuneration
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
Average non-executive retainer £76,868 £68,277 £60,000 12.58% 28.11%
Average (part-time) chair retainer £433,935 £418,092 £344,000 3.79% 26.14%
Outside commitments
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
% chairs with outside quoted board 65% 66% 69% -2.61% -6.28%
% CEOs with outside quotes board 27% 35% 38% -21.74% -28.95%
% CFOs with outside quoted board 26% 33% 23% -20.73% 13.04%
Meetings and board evaluation
2023 2018 2013 5 year change 10 year change
% boards external evaluation 41% 43% 43% -3.98% -4.65%
Average number of board meetings (scheduled) 7.7 7.3 8.7 5.48% -11.49%
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