ITN chief executive John Hardie received a £1.2m pay packet last year after being gifted £499,000 from a “long term incentive scheme”, according to the firm’s latest annual report.

Meanwhile staff at the London-based production company, ITN, which runs ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, had to make do with a pay rise of 1.25 per cent (for those earning up to £60,000) equal to a minimum increase of £500.

Hardie, who was paid a salary of £711,000 last year, down £23,000 on the year before, and who had a yearly pension contribution of £20,000 this year, up £5,000 on the year before, is the company’s highest paid director.