Average bonuses rise 4.9 per cent as bank and insurance bonuses hit their highest since 2008
Bonus payments in the UK rose to £40.5bn in the year to April, up almost five per cent on a year ago. In the finance and insurance sector, payments hit £15bn – their highest level since the peak of the financial crisis, in 2008.
Changes to taxes in the 2012/13 financial year meant many businesses deferred bonus payments until April 2013, instead of March 2013, so the Office for National Statistics has stripped April 2013 out of its figures. But with that month included, bonus payments rose to £41.3bn, a 12 per cent rise on the year before.
Average bonus per person increased 2.6 per cent to £1,500. Private sector employees received £1,800 each, six times higher than the the public sector's £300.
After two years of flat bonuses, payouts to bankers and insurers finally rose in 2014. Bonuses in the sector hit £13,300 per person, the highest level of any industry and £700 more than last year.
Miners and oil explorers took the second spot, with an average payout of £7,000 per person, although that was £300 lower than the year before. Those working in the education and health and social work sectors received the lowest bonuses: the ONS descibed them as "negligible".