Tax officials’ bonuses to be curbed after bumper 2010
BONUSES received by tax officials will be curbed in line with the rest of the public sector, following revelations that top HMRC staff received a bumper £13m bonus payment between them last year.
The Revenue paid out almost £800,000 more on staff bonuses last year than it did in 2009, despite a blunder in the run up to Christmas that saw more than a million people receive new tax demands.
As many as 450,000 pensioners were told to pay more tax at the end of last year after HMRC made mistakes on their tax codes.
The payments to staff were made under contracts agreed under the previous government administration and will now be curbed, as Whitehall departments prepare to clip expenditure.
Freedom of Information requests found several government departments paid large bonuses to staff.
A spokesperson for HMRC said: “We have said we will restrict performance related payments from 2011-12 and are conducting a review into pay structures. A two-year public sector pay freeze starts in 2011.
“The number of Senior Civil Servants who will receive a bonus will also be dramatically reduced in future in line with commitments made by the Prime Minister.”