Bonus payouts for HMRC staff that lost benefit discs

The HMRC department that caused the blunder which saw the personal details of 25 million families go missing, has been given £19m in performance-related bonuses.

Some of the payouts, amounting to £8,000, were made just days after the news of the missing child benefit database discs made headlines.

The bonuses have gone up by 70% compared to the £11m staff received in the previous year despite seven data breaches since April 2005, the Telegraph reported.

According to figures released, 220 senior HMRC staff received bonuses for 2006-7 worth £1.7m, on average £8,000.

A further £1.7m was dished out to nearly 38,000 other workers who received ad average of £453 each.

Conservative chairman of the Treasury sub-committee, Michael Fallon, described the scale of the payout as 'staggering'.

'Given the over-payments of tax credits and data loss mistakes, constituents might be surprised to learn that a third of staff at HMRC shared a performance-related bonus,' said Fallon.

But Treasury minister Jane Kennedy, said the increase was the result of a 'pay assimilation exercise' after HM Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue merged in 2005.

Further reading:

Bonus bonanza for civil servants

Apology for disc blunder costs the taxpayer £3m

Taxman warned not to influence Poynter review