The first mandatory pay ratio disclosures will appear in the UK's leading companies' annual reports from spring 2020. UK listed firms are now required to disclose their CEO's pay as a multiple of their median UK employee, as well as the thresholds for the top quarter and bottom quarter of earners across their UK workforce.

With income inequality in the UK amongst the highest in the developed world, the new disclosures will inform a vital debate about the scale and causes of pay differences at our biggest employers. However, the success of the new initiative depends on firms not only reporting their pay ratios, but also engaging with the debate about inequality and explaining to both internal and external stakeholders how their pay practices align with the company's business strategy and how this in turn aligns with the interests of wider society.

This event will discuss the value of pay ratio disclosures and how they can be most usefully applied, ahead of a major piece of research undertaken by the High Pay Centre and supported by the Standard Life Foundation, analysing the first tranche of disclosures in 2020. Building on this the National Centre for Social Research will present new analysis of attitudes to pay across Europe. This analysis, based on recently released data from the European Social Survey, tells us about how British citizens feel about high and low pay, and how these views compare with citizens of 18 other European countries.

Registration starts from 2.30pm with the event beginning at 3pm prompt. Please let us know if you have any access requirements.

Speakers

Charles Cotton, Performance and Reward Adviser, CIPD

Charles Cotton is the CIPD’s performance and reward specialist. He directs the CIPD’s reward research agenda and is also responsible for its public policy work in the area of pay and benefits. Charles frequently appears in the media commentating on reward and is often invited to present on his research at reward conferences and events.

Janet Williamson, Senior Policy Officer, TUC

Janet Williamson is responsible for TUC's policy work on corporate governance, institutional investment, executive pay and corporate social responsibility. She's the Chair of Trade Union Share Owners, an initiative that brings together union funds to collaborate on voting and engagement at company AGMs, and a trustee of the TUC Superannuation Society. She also contributes to TUC pensions policy and campaigning.

Tom Gosling, Partner, PWC

Tom Gosling is a Partner and is the leader of PwC's UK Reward Practice. He specialises in advising companies and remuneration committees on all aspects of executive compensation, covering benchmarking, design, metric selection and calibration, investor consultation, and communication. Tom has over 15 years of experience in giving reward advice across all sectors to large companies and their remuneration committees in the UK and overseas and works with a dozen FTSE-100 companies across sectors. Tom has also been responsible for our market-renowned briefings and thought leadership on executive remuneration issues and is a regular media commentator and book contributor.

Euan Stirling, Global Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment at Aberdeen Standard Investments ("ASI").

A chartered accountant, Euan's career began at Ernst & Young in 1986 and he subsequently held a variety of accounting roles spanning Private Practice, Industry and Local Government. Before joining ASI, he was a UK fund manager at Schroder Investment Management where he managed several institutional pension funds and charity portfolios. Euan moved into his role as Head of Stewardship and ESG Investment at ASI in 2016 following a fifteen year career with them during which he was a fund manager and investment analyst in the UK Equity Team. Euan's role brings together the Governance & Stewardship and Responsible Investment teams.

Alun Humphrey, Head of Household Surveys at NatCen Social Research

Alun is Head of Household Surveys within the Survey Research Centre at NatCen Social Research, having joined in 2001. He has a track record 20-plus years of successfully managing challenging face-to-face surveys. He has been responsible for running a number of large-scale government surveys that form the basis of National Statistics including the English Housing Survey for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the National Travel Survey for the Department of Transport as well as a wide range of other social surveys using differing methodologies. He is the UK National Coordinator for the European Social Survey. He has a range of reporting experience, notably contributing to the British Social Attitudes 29th Report. Alun graduated from the City University in 1994, with a first-class degree in Business Studies.

Registration for this event is mandatory to gain entry to the building. A limited number of tickets are available.