The highest-paid charity workers are paid about a fifth of what their counterparts receive in the financial services sector, research indicates.

An analysis of 52,000 salaries from jobs in London by the salary benchmarking website Emolument.com found that the top 10 per cent of earners in the financial services industry received at least £290,000 a year compared with £61,000 for those in the voluntary sector.

Of the 20 sectors analysed, the charities and not-for-profit organisations came out as the lowest payers on £67,000 a year, behind the public sector and education.

The salaries quoted are the lowest annual amount required to be included in the top 10 per cent of earners in each sector.

Financial services came out on top by far, with insurance in second place on £153,000.

The figures are based on information provided by people using the website’s benchmarking service since 2015 and include data from 835 charity professionals.