Widely reported in the media (to early to muck about with links) that this year alone our MOD Civil Servants (CS) received £47M in bonuses and the father of a 21 yr Private is outraged.

Not sure I can get hugely over excited about this but already it seems the reporting is one sided - 21 years old Privates gets £16-20K, most CS I suspect are on less than £25k, but the Privates salary isn't the real figure - cheap housing, cheap schooling, free medical care etc.

And in any case, when the bonuses appear to be an average of £1K I'm even less bothered if it keep someone else doing jobs that are usually as bone and dull as you like and free up Service personnel to do the pointy end stuff. Otherwise we'd end up like most of our European colleagues with hugely bloated Armed Forces but with massive amounts who can't deploy because they are our CS equivalent.

I'm sure there will be a wide range of views following................

I think the problem with this is that I assume this is part of the CS wage bill anyway. When I last worked with them, half of them were awarded a bonus at the end of the year.....the most stupid idea ever thought of. Makes good news headlines in today's climate but it's a crap system which has been in for years.

I couldn't care less. A taxed bonus of 1k is an expenses claim, not a bonus!

Less than £25k - you're not kidding!

Try less than £16k after 5 years service. Not like I'm a school leaver either - 15 years previous Military service count's for nowt.

Originally Posted by asr1

I couldn't care less. A taxed bonus of 1k is an expenses claim, not a bonus!

No expenses claims, overtime or courses either!

I am a MoD civvie. I have been in the MoD for 13 years. My basic is 18k a year. My bonus this year was £380.

The lowest bonus paid this year to MoD staff was £250. I am not sure what the highset figure was (about 2k I think). Only 10% of staff across all grades got the higher rate the other 90% were at the lower end.

There is a bonus system purely because they cannot afford to pay pensions; by not being part of salary it does not accrue towards pensionable pay. It is totally iniquitous (spelling?) and rather than actually rewarding proper endeavour it rewards those at the higher end of the pay scale with greater sums of money. They would be better off doing away with it all together and just giving every civil servant three or four days extra leave that must be taken at Christmas (because they switch all the heating off anyway and no green suits are in work except duty personnel!).

Not sure I can get hugely over excited about this but already it seems the reporting is one sided - 21 years old Privates gets £16-20K, most CS I suspect are on less than £25k, but the Privates salary isn't the real figure - cheap housing, cheap schooling, free medical care etc.

Tell me about this cheap housing schooling and medical care? Housing is the average of all council house rents in UK. (see AFPRB report) Medical care is the same as civilians get and they pay the same NI for it. Cheap schooling really? Please explain?

Is there such a thing as "cheap schooling"??

I see no problem with paying bonuses to everyone who has a job provided by the government in addition to salaries, provided they are pre budgeted from a bonus 'pot' and that there is a correct agreed process in place to ensure that only those that deserve them get them. The prospect of a decent bonus can be a mighty incentive to good performance

I have worked in the private sector where in theory about a fifth of my final pay can be made up by bonus'. In twenty years I have never yet got the full amount but have fluctuated between nothing and 15% depending how well I have done and my dept has done that that year in terms of meeting a whole series of pre-agreed departmental and personal targets. Provided the process is clear to all employees then there can be little opportunity for favoritism. Under most well run schemes, nearly everyone gets something even if it is just £50 for having a good attedance record.

As someone else said the downside of this mechanism is that Bonuses are not pensionable and that suits the employer. I guess if a suitable well run system were in place it might suit the taxpayer as well.

Provided the system is pre-budgeted with real achievable targets then I don't have a problem.