Green calls Home Office bonuses ‘cuts’
By politics.co.uk staff
Four per cent of the Home Office’s wage bill is being spent on bonuses for senior civil servants, it has emerged.
Immigration minister Damian Green told the Commons’ home affairs committee that over £770,000 would be spent on bonuses by the department this year.
Committee chair Keith Vaz told Mr Green that this did not represent a pay cut, while the Tories’ Aidan Burley pointed out that bonuses should be discretionary rather than compulsory.
But Mr Green insisted the £1.4 million usually paid to bonuses had been substantially reduced, lowering the department’s overall spending on salaries.
“8.6% of the pay bill had been set aside for performance bonuses but only four per cent is being spent, which is less than half,” he said.
“They will get less money than they did last year.”
The coalition government has acted quickly to undermine high salaries for senior public sector workers, while all those earning more than £21,000 face a two-year pay freeze.
