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Senior civil servants defy credit crunch with £317,000 in bonuses
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Senior civil servants defied the credit crunch with a shared bonus worth over £317,000 this year, it was revealed today.
Performance-related pay was granted to 42 staff at a time of widespread economic hardship.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) refused to confirm what exactly high-achieving officials had done to deserve the extra money.
House of Lords Ulster Unionist peer Lord Laird obtained the information from a parliamentary written question.
"At a time of straitened financial circumstances, for the government to be complaining about bonuses to bankers but paying large bonuses to civil servants is unacceptable," he said.
The total of £317,200 this year meant an average of £7,552 for each official.
The Conservative Party has also criticised large bonuses as looking like "something for nothing".
Large hand-outs, regardless of long-term implications of deals, have been blamed by some for encouraging risk-taking in the City in London.
John Corey from public service union NIPSA said the money was being spent at a time when civil servants were trying to reopen negotiations over pay because of inflation.
"We do not support the system of performance-related bonuses for a few," he said.
"We believe available money for civil service pay awards should be awarded to all and particularly to the low paid."
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon told Lord Laird bonuses for staff were calculated on government's response to the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body.
"Individual bonus recommendations are made by line managers and these are moderated by a number of remuneration committees with the involvement of a non-executive director," she added.
An NIO spokeswoman said: "Bonuses are awarded to staff who have performed particularly well against their objectives."
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What rubbish.
Virtuallu all civil servants receive bonuse, and annual pay rises, and non contributary indexed link pension (to which the "performance related" bonuses are added)
And much more.
Please tell the whole story
Posted by JJ | 02.03.09, 19:54 GMT
No wonder NIPSA is opposed to performance related bonuses like this - look at what happened with the banks! The senior civil servants in the NICS have copied them, making the service awash with otherwise pointless targets, which when met by their underlings, net them the inevitable rewards in bonuses. They really are shameless.
Posted by Fred | 07.11.08, 17:13 GMT
Remember this is SENIOR civil servants only. The rank and file can only dream of earning such bonses. The maximum bonus that can be paid for a top performer in the majority of grades is £150 a year. Thats less than £3 a week and most won't even achieve that! This is yet more sensationalist journalism. Yes, I agree the terms and conditions of employment are good, but this is offset by some of the poorist pay in the UK.
Posted by Fed Up Middle Ranking Civil Servant | 07.11.08, 16:17 GMT
A gross and ill informed generalisation from "Enraged". I have worked for a number of years in pretty stressful jobs within the Civil Service, I've had 8 days sick in 20 years. There are plenty like me. Of course there are lazy and inefficient people both in the public and private sectors, but the vast majority aren't like that.
The bonues stated are for Senior Civil Servants not for the rest of the workforce. By the way I'm on annual leave today and posting this from my own home.
Posted by Tom | 07.11.08, 13:26 GMT
Enraged you are obviously very jealous of the public sectors working conditions. Perhaps you should lobby your own employer for better working conditions ( a basic human right) or move, rather than making sweeping generalisations. Otherwise stay with your employer and let him continue to exploit your life.
Posted by GDW | 07.11.08, 13:10 GMT
To enraged
Having been a civil sevant now for just over 25 years and at EO grade my lowly paid wage is £21,360 gross per year . My performance bonus which is taxed is an amazing £50 or 73p per week. Yes we do have our so called "perks" like our pensions. My last pension calculation was £9500 per year, not much by todays standards. Yes we can be off on sick leave for up to 6 months on full pay but this has to be supported by the departments medical advisor. Once you are off for more than 6 months you have to live on half pay for the next year. So please don't label all civil servants the same. Many of us have other part-time jobs to supplement our income so that we can provide for our families.
Posted by Poor civil servant | 07.11.08, 11:51 GMT
Enraged, I think you should realise that this report is about the bonuses of senior civil servants i.e. the faceless few in Stormont and front line staff, who do not receive bonuses.
Posted by terry | 07.11.08, 09:22 GMT
Having had to work with civil servants in the recent past I find it impossible to understand how these people with, jobs for life, conditions (working and pension) that those of us in the private sector can only dream of, can justify these bonuses. I think this is another case of public sector employees taking the P...
If they are not dawdling round the office, making coffee or milking the sick leave system... Don't get me started....
Posted by Enraged | 06.11.08, 21:20 GMT