During Margaret Thatcher’s privatisation boom, there was a feeling that directors of privatised utilities were being paid highly compared with their previously modest salaries as managers – for doing exactly the same job. The truth could never be established under the then reporting requirements, so the Greenbury Report introduced detailed reporting on individual director’s pay. However, the experts agree that it is still extremely hard to work out how much any individual director is paid.

”It is a bit of a forensic exercise,” says Vicky Wright, president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. ”That is partly because it is split into different elements and partly because there is no disclosure on share options or performance shares sold. Oddly enough, there is a view that directors make more than they actually do.”