“There’s a crisis at the top of British business and it is deeply corrosive to our economy. When pay for senior executives is set behind closed doors, it does not reflect company success and is fuelling massive inequality. It represents a deep malaise at the very top of our society.” – Deborah Hargreaves, High Pay Commission Chair

The independent High Pay Commission (the “HPC”), a non-governmental interest group established by Compass, concluded its final report on executive pay on 22 November 2011. The report followed a year-long inquiry into high pay and boardroom pay across the public and private sectors in the UK, focusing in particular on executive pay in listed companies (and other publicly quoted companies). In the report, the HPC sets out its analysis and commentary on recent executive pay inflation, in addition to 12 recommendations for reforms to corporate governance and disclosure requirements (including proposals to amend the UK Corporate Governance Code (the “Code”)).