Where it is available, the information requested is recorded in the following table.
Amount paid (£) Number paid Total staff (headcount) Percentage of total work force Single highest payment (£) 2002-03 2,067,878 3,388 18,190 18.6 n/a 2003-04 2,919,953 4,082 20,994 19.4 n/a 2004-05 3,459,397 4,710 24,081 19.6 15,000 2005-06 3,612,916 5,014 25,343 19.8 15,000 n/a = Not available.
The information provided is subject to limitations. Comprehensive data for 2001-02 are not available or can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data for appraisal-related bonus payments are included only for Home Office HQ and Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). Data for the public sector Prison Service are excluded and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Identity and Passport Agency (IPS) does not run an appraisal-related bonus scheme. Data recorded for performance appraisal payments relate to the previous reporting year and not the financial year in which the bonuses themselves were paid.
Data for special bonus payments are included only for the senior civil service (for the whole Department and its agencies) and IPS for 2004-05 and 2005-06 for certain bonuses where information is available. Staffing data cover those in Home Office HQ, BIA and all senior civil servants in the Department and its agencies. For 2004-05 and 2005-06, IPS staff are included. Information for 2006-07 is currently unavailable: bonuses relating to this period will be paid with the 2007 pay award later in the year.
The highest payments in each year were made to the senior civil service following recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body. Figures cannot be provided for 2002-03 and 2003-04 as they represented the highest paid amount to an individual and it is not departmental practice to provide information that could be attributed to individual members of staff.
Within the Home Office and its agencies there are separate arrangements for awarding bonuses. Staff below the senior civil service may receive annual, appraisal-related awards where their objectives were exceeded and overall effectiveness was significantly above the standards agreed for the post. Examples include demonstrating the ability and willingness to take on new and additional work or consistently exceeding key objectives that have been set. Special bonuses will be awarded for exceptional, specific work such as delivering key tasks in particularly challenging and demanding circumstances.
Senior civil service bonuses reward, provide incentives for, in-year delivery of key results. Senior civil servants can be awarded bonuses as set out in the Senior Salaries Review Body report No. 62.