Report on directors’ remunerationSub‐section report on directors’ remuneration


Benchmarking

We want our executive directors’ remuneration to be competitive with those of directors and executives in similar positions in comparable companies.

The policy is that target total direct compensation (base salary plus annual and long-term incentives) should be set by reference to the UK and US mid-market depending on the relevant market or markets for particular jobs.

We use a range of UK companies in different sectors including the media sector. Some are of a similar size to Pearson, while others are larger, but the method which the committee’s independent advisers use to make comparisons on remuneration takes this into account. All have very substantial overseas operations. We also use selected media companies in North America.

We use these companies because they represent the wider executive talent pool from which we might expect to recruit externally and the pay market to which we might be vulnerable if our remuneration was not competitive.

Market assessments against the two groups take account of those factors which Towers Perrin’s research shows differentiate remuneration for jobs of a similar nature, such as sales, board membership, reporting relationships and international activities.

For benchmarking purposes, the main elements of remuneration are valued as follows:

Element of remuneration Valuation
Base salary Actual base salary
Annual incentive Target level of annual incentive
Bonus share matching Expected value of matching award based on 50% of target level of annual incentive
Long-term incentive Expected value of long-term incentive award
Pension and benefits Cost to company of providing pension and other benefits
Total remuneration Sum of all elements of remuneration

Expected value means the net present value of awards taking into account the vesting schedule, risk of forfeiture and the probability that any performance target will be met.