£1m-plus pay-offs for 14 bosses

A NEW row over fat cat pay-offs has been triggered by figures revealing that a record number of company executives received golden handshakes of more than £1m last year.

As many as 14 executives - more than double the total of any previous year - received pay-offs ranging from just over £1m to £9m-plus, according to the report from Labour Research.

Heading the list, branded 'obscene' by union leaders, was Klaus Esser, who received a £9.1m payment when he left the mobile phone company Vodafone after its takeover by the German Mannesmann group. He had previously headed the German business.

Other executives to join the millionaires club through pay-offs last year included Dino Adriano of the supermarkets group Sainsbury's, who was paid £1.2m; David Allvey of Barclays, with £1.6m and Trevor Hilliard of Alliance & Leicester, who received almost £1.5m.

The research, gleaned from information published in companies' annual reports, also showed there were 75 golden handshakes of £100,000 or more. The recipients included executives who were either sacked, left their jobs after boardroom disagreements or just retired.

Union leaders slammed the Labour Research findings, pointing out that £1m would pay the wages of more than 60 fully qualified nurses for a year.

TUC general secretary John Monks said: 'This smacks of double standards from Britain's employers. Senior managers who make disastrous business decisions are getting rewarded while staff get the sack or have their wages cut. Fat cat pay and bosses who shirk corporate responsibility will not inspire competitiveness, just breed justifiable resentment.'