Almost half the senior managers below board level have not been awarded a salary increase in 2009, according to a new report by Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

A comprehensive survey of practice in UK plcs focuses on the two levels of management directly below the board. The most significant finding is that although the salaries for senior managers are less likely to be frozen in 2009 than for executive directors, the overall total cash for this group (salary and bonus), has decreased more than for executive directors.

A report on the remuneration of executive directors, published by Deloitte in September, indicated that around two thirds of executive directors received no pay increase in 2009. This new report shows that while this trend continues below the board, it is not so widespread. Within the survey participants, just over half the executive committee members and around 45 per cent of the senior managers did not receive a salary increase in 2009.

Similarly, slightly more of those surveyed were expecting no salary increase for directors in 2010 compared with positions below the board. Fourty one per cent of companies expect no increase for directors, 38 per cent expect no increase for executive committee members and 35 per cent no increase for senior managers. Around a quarter expect increases to be less than three per cent and around 40 per cent anticipate increases of between three per cent and five per cent.

Paul Schofield, partner in charge at Deloitte in St Albans, said: “It is perhaps not surprising that pay freezes have been more common at board level. Many companies will have felt that it is important for the directors to show restraint but may have considered it appropriate to increase pay below the board where this is justified. However, what is particularly striking is that the total cash (salary plus bonus) of those below the board has decreased more in the past year than for executive directors.”

In the largest companies total cash has remained at very similar levels to the previous year for executive directors and members of the executive committee, but there has been a decrease of around eight per cent for senior managers. In FTSE 250 companies there was no increase in total cash for executive directors and a decrease of eight per cent for both executive committee members and senior managers.