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The UK's top bosses can look forward to retiring on £200,000 a year – 25 times more than the average worker, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said.

The TUC's annual PensionsWatch survey, which analyses the pension arrangements of 346 directors from 102 of the UK's top companies, revealed an average pension pot of £3 million.

Directors with the greatest entitlements have funds worth around £5.2 million, which would provide a pension of £333,400 a year.

The survey found that directors in defined contribution (DC) schemes received an average employer contribution of £91,700.

The average employer contribution rate was around 21 per cent, three times the average rate for ordinary workers in this type of scheme (around 6.5 per cent).

According to the TUC, the top directors with the highest pension payments at each company received an average employer contribution of £149,600.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "As ordinary workers have their pensions schemes closed and are expected to work for longer, the UK's top bosses are avoiding this collective belt tightening and retaining their gold-plated pensions.

"Top bosses justify their lavish pay and pension arrangements on the risks they take and the rewards they deserve for success. But these credit crunch-busting retirement plans seem to exist in a different world from the economic squeeze that is affecting everyone else's pensions."

Many directors also benefit from early retirement, the TUC said. While many employers across the public and private sectors are increasing the length of time people have to work by raising retirement ages to 65, the majority of directors in the TUC study are still able to retire at 60.