To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been paid in bonuses to civil servants in her Department in each year since 2003. (306463)

The Department operates two pay-related employee reward schemes. They comprise end of year non-consolidated performance pay and in-year special awards.

End of year non-consolidated performance pay

DWP employees below the senior civil service are eligible for an annual individual non-consolidated performance payment if they attain a “top”, “higher” or “majority” rating under the annual performance and development system. The actual payment awarded is determined by the employee's pay band and the performance level achieved.

For the senior civil service, end of year non-consolidated performance pay is determined by the relevant departmental pay committee, in line with recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.

The total payments made in respect the years since 2003 are as follows:

The average payments in the years between 2002-03 and 2009-10 were between £199.48 and £350.39.

Special awards

Individuals may be awarded a special award either as cash or in the form of retail vouchers. These are one-off recognition awards, payable at any time during the performance year to recognise exceptional achievements beyond what would normally be expected.

Figures for retail vouchers are available from 2007 when they were introduced to the Department. Figures for cash payments are not available prior to 2007-08.

The total amount paid in awards was as follows:

In addition to individual performance bonus payments, DWP also paid team bonuses to selected units within the Department between the period 2002 and 2005. The total payments made were as follows.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been allocated for (a) year-end and (b) in-year bonuses for (i) her Department's and (ii) its agencies' staff in 2009-10. (307026)

The Department operates two pay-related employee reward schemes. They comprise end of year non-consolidated performance pay and in-year special awards.

End of Year Non-consolidated Performance Pay

DWP employees below the Senior Civil Service are eligible for an annual individual non-consolidated performance payment if they attain a “top”, “higher” or "majority" rating under the annual performance and development system. The actual payment awarded is determined by the employee's pay band and the performance level achieved.

For the Senior Civil Service, end of year non-consolidated performance pay is determined by the relevant Departmental Pay Committee, in line with recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.

Performance awards are payable in July and are attributable to performance in the previous financial year. In the 2009-10 financial year £21.81 million was paid in July 2009 for performance in the previous year. Of this £4.66 million was paid to employees in DWP Corporate and Shared Services, £13.98 million to those in Jobcentre Plus, and £3.17 million to those in the Pension, Disability and Carers Service. The average payment received was £199.48.

Special Awards

Individuals may be awarded a special award either as cash or in the form of retail vouchers. These are one-off recognition awards, payable at any time during the performance year, to recognise exceptional achievements beyond what would normally be expected.

Up to 0.25 per cent of the overall departmental staff budget is available to fund Special Awards and in 2009-10 this equates to £7.28 million of which £5.97 million is available to the Department's agencies and £1.31 million to the rest of the Department.

For the period April to August 2009, the number of Special Awards made was 22,997, at a cost of £1.86 million. Departmental headcount at August 2009 was 118,356.

The average payment received was £80.88.