£36.9 billion paid out in bonuses in 2012/13 – up 1% on a year earlier

The Office for National Statistics says analysis of bonus payments in Great Britain, shows that bonuses rose by 1% over the last year. They have been examining total bonuses received across the whole economy in 2012/13. The ONS reveals that:

• Total bonus payments received across the whole economy during the financial year April 2012 to March 2013 was £36.9 billion, an increase of 1% compared with the same period in 2011/12.
• A number of businesses reported that they had chosen to defer bonuses usually paid in March to April this year. Thus, whole economy total bonus payments for the period May 2012 to April 2013 was £38.6 billion, an increase of 4% compared with a year earlier.
• The average bonus per employee in the financial year 2012/13 was £1,400. The industry with the highest bonus per employee was finance and insurance activities at £11,900, nearly twice the next highest, Mining and quarrying at £6,700. Education and health and social work were the lowest with average bonuses of less than £100 per employee.
• The average private sector worker received £1,700 in bonuses in 2012/13, more than five times the average public sector worker’s bonus of £300. If financial services– which include the temporarily nationalised banks – are removed from the public sector, the average public sector worker’s bonus falls to £100.

Commenting on the latest figures for bonuses during 2012/13, published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: "The return of big bonuses shows Britain is booming for the super-rich. While ordinary people suffer the longest wage squeeze in over a century, those at the top have seen bonuses rise by a stonking four per cent.

"Not content with giving the super-rich a tax cut, the Chancellor has also showered them with an extra gift worth tens of millions of pounds, courtesy of the taxpayer, by giving them plenty of notice to defer their bonuses and avoid the 50p tax rate. The shape of Britain's recovery looks increasingly like one where the same old elites hog the gains, while ordinary workers are expected to take declining living standards on the chin."