The 'stratospheric' gulf between CEO pay and average earners, in one chart

The top-paid executives in Britain have salaries more than 180 times larger than average workers.

A report by the Labour Research Department, a trade union-backed thinktank that is not directly connected to the Labour Party, said the gap between the most well remunerated executives and most workers was widening year by year.

At least 535 bosses are now paid at least £1million per year, while Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising and PR group WPP, received £43million (including £274,000 for flights so his wife could accompany him on business trips.

Let's just put that into context for you, thanks to our friends at Statista:

People aren't taking this lying down, with Sir Martin having to weather a shareholder revolt at WPP's annual meeting in June, where 20 per cent tried to vote down his pay package.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady commented:

With top bosses now earning 183 times more than the average full-time worker, inequality is reaching stratospheric levels. After years of falling living standards, it is a disgrace.

Top 10 earners

1. Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP, £42.978m a year

2. Tony Pidgley, Berkeley, £23.296m

3. Ben van Beurden, Shell, £19.510m

4. Jeremy Darroch, Sky, £16.8895m

5. Erik Engstrom, RELX Group, £16.176m

6. Peter Long, TUI Travel, £13.333m

7. Rob Perrins, Berkeley, £12.357m

8. Tidjane Thiam, Prudential, £11.834m

9. Breon Corcoran, Betfair, £11.627m

10. António Horta-Osório, Lloyds Banking Group, £11.544m

More: Global inequality is so bad it's almost impossible to visualise it