UK

The workers enjoying the biggest bonuses this year – and the smallest

Tom Haynes
23 December 2023

The jobs paying the biggest bonuses this year

Finance and insurance workers have raked in twice as much in bonuses as any other industry, Telegraph analysis of official figures shows.

Weekly earnings data published this month by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that those working in finance pocketed an average of £18,000 a year in bonus pay.

Those receiving the smallest bonuses each month were those working in education, who earned £94 on average, followed by hospitality workers (£442) and health and social workers (£535).

Last week’s data saw British wage growth slow by the most in almost two years – from 8pc to 7.2pc. Vacancies also fell by 45,000 to 949,000 in the September to November period.

However, pay is still rising too fast for the Bank of England to relax its stance on interest rates. Last week, the Bank opted to hold the base rate at 5.25pc, while Andrew Bailey, the Governor, warned that there was “still some way to go” in Britain’s inflation fight.

Data published by job site Adzuna also saw a sharp decline in salaries and vacancies. After consistent growth throughout the first half of the year, in November, UK job adverts fell by 2.72pc compared to October and were down 8.55pc compared to last year.

The website also said 2023 was the worst year on record for salary transparency, with fewer than half of jobs advertised since July disclosing pay. Despite reportedly low bonus pay, November saw the highest year-on-year increase in teaching roles, with 120,000 teaching vacancies listed in June this year, up 34pc from 2022.

The ONS has not published a report on bonuses since the financial year 2016-17, however, Telegraph analysis of weekly earnings data showed that bankers and insurers still earned far more in bonus pay than other industries.

This year, the cap on bankers’ bonuses was scrapped as part of post-Brexit reforms designed to boost growth in the City.

Official figures showed that workers receiving the largest bonuses were also more likely to be reliant on them. Bonus payments accounted for 20pc of the overall earnings for those working in finance and insurance, followed by information and communication (12pc), then mining and quarrying (11pc).

Those working in mining and quarrying earned £8,200 in bonus pay in the 12 months to November this year, followed by workers in information and communication (£7,000) and professional scientific and technical activities (£4,200).

Analysis of ONS figures from the last 20 years showed little change in the amount of bonuses paid across dozens of industries.

However, bumper deals for health sector and public administration workers saw their bonuses increase the most across all sectors over the past year.