Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) civil servants collected bonuses totalling more than £12.7million during the last financial year, despite simultaneously overpaying close to £10billion in benefit payments.
Freedom of information (FoI) data reveals that approximately 200 senior officials within the benefits department received bonus payments averaging £2,122.35 each during 2024-25.
Some of these senior employees benefited from multiple payments, collecting both in-year and end-of-year bonuses.
Permanent secretary Sir Peter Schofield, alongside executives Amanda Reynolds and Catherine Vaughan, each took home between £10,000 and £15,000 according to the DWP’s annual report.
DWP civil servants received millions of pounds in bonuses despite the issue of benefit
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Lower-ranking employees also shared in the bonus distribution, with 86,757 junior staff members receiving an average payment of £141.10 each.
Beyond direct cash payments, the department distributed reward vouchers worth a combined £4.4million to more junior personnel.
These 57,785 vouchers carried an average value of £39.44 per recipient, according to the FoI disclosure, The Telegraph reports.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance responded with fierce criticism over the handing out of bonuses to DWP civil servants despite billions of pounds in benefits being overpaid.
Billions of pounds in benefits are estimated to be overpaid due to fraud or error each year | GB NEWS/DWP
Benefit fraud – from your wallet: Total amount lost to benefit fraud per year | GB NEWS
William Yarwood, the free-market think tank’s media campaign manager, said: “It’s beyond parody to see so many staff at the DWP receiving bonuses.”
He added: “The DWP is in a crisis, haemorrhaging billions of pounds in fraud and error payments and completely unable to tackle the worklessness crisis blighting our economy.”
During the 2024-25 financial year, benefit overpayments reached an estimated £9.5billion, representing 3.3 per cent of total welfare expenditure.
This marked a modest improvement from the preceding year’s £9.7billion figure. Of last year’s overpayments, £1 billion resulted directly from departmental mistakes.
The DWP is making dramatic changes to its services, including to Jobcentres | PA
A DWP spokesman stated: “It is important the Civil Service is able to remunerate its staff in line with the private sector to attract and retain the best talent, as it delivers on the Government’s priorities to create opportunity and reform the welfare system.”
The spokesman noted that the DWP employs more than 90,000 people delivering essential services, including benefits, pensions, and employment support.
However, Whitehall had earlier this year instructed departments to reduce bonus payments made simply for “generally doing your job”.
In January, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones announced: “From now on, we will award higher but fewer bonuses to those exceptional civil servants who are delivering, innovating and going above and beyond.”