Dear FTSE 350 Chairs,

This year, workers in the UK are facing an unprecedented increase to the cost of living.

After two years of personal loss and financial uncertainty caused by the pandemic and over a decade of stagnating pay, this latest crisis will push many to the brink, not least those who are already at the sharp end of existing socio economic disadvantages.

It is clear that this situation is untenable. For this reason, we are calling on your organisations to participate in the forging of a new consensus in the workplace. This new consensus needs to re-examine how rewards from work are distributed throughout society. It needs to protect people from poverty and ensure a good standard of living for all. And it needs to serve the broader purpose of making the UK a better, fairer society to live and work in.

Crucially, this new consensus cannot be forged without looking at how rewards are distributed at the top of companies as well as at the bottom. Executive pay has been a key driver of income inequality in the UK for decades, and each year consumes a significant component of company resources which could be more fairly distributed among struggling workers. Excessive executive pay packages underline the unfairness of the current system, and as Equality Trust and High Pay Centre polling has shown, the public overwhelmingly does not support a pay rise for highly paid executives this year.

As a result, our organisations are asking that your companies commit to no increases to fixed pay for executives this year, and for annual bonuses and LTIPs to be distributed among low paid workers to help them cope with unprecedented rises to the cost of living.

Furthermore, we are asking your organisations to make a number of longer term commitments which we believe would represent major steps towards this new consensus These steps include:

• Phasing out annual bonuses and LTIPs and replacing them with profit sharing schemes involving the whole workforce
• Greater engagement with collective bargaining, including allowing unions access to workplaces to speak with workers about collective bargaining
• Worker directors on company boards
• Becoming a Living Wage Employer

Lastly, we would like to encourage you to engage with our organisations so that we might work together towards our goal of making the UK a fairer, more resilient and more equitable economy.

Yours faithfully,

The Equality Trust

Trade Unions Congress

High Pay Centre