ONS: Financial and insurance still highest bonus earners in Britain

Official figures released on Tuesday show that employees of financial and insurance sector are still the highest bonus earners in Britain in the financial year between April 2012 to March 2013, with the average bonus topping 11,900 pounds. In sharp contrast, the bonus paid per employee in education and health and social industries were almost zero. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that total bonus payments received across the whole economy of Britain during the financial year were 36.9 billion pounds, an increase of one percent compared with the 2011-2012 financial year. Of the total, 13 billion pounds were paid to employees working in the financial and insurance sector, the same level of the previous year, and the rest of 24 billion pounds paid to the rest of the economy, up one percent year on year. The ONS said during the 2012-2013 financial year, the three top industries in terms of average bonus payment to an employee were financial and insurance services, mining and quarrying with the bonus amount of 6,700 pounds, and information and communication with 4,400 pounds. Meanwhile, the bottom three industries were health and social work, education, and public administration with the average bonus payment to an employee standing at only 100 pounds respectively. Industries registering the biggest increases were information and communication, retail trade and repairing, transport and storage sectors, and those with the biggest decreases were construction, administrative and support services, and professional scientific and technical sectors. The ONS figures also indicated that average bonus for employees of private sector was higher than that of the public sector as bonuses are a significant part of total pay in the private sector. The average bonus received by private sector employee was 1,700 pounds in the 2012-2013 financial year, compared with 300 pounds in the public sector. Employees in the private sector in Britain are in receipt of lower regular pay than those in the public sector, said the ONS.