Civil servants working for the Ministry of Defence pocketed £57million in bonuses last year, despite the department facing billions of pounds of cuts and the escalating threat of war.
The figure handed out by the Labour Government to the mostly desk-bound staff is £25million more than the £32million they received in 2019.
In total, the bonuses they have been awarded since that year amount to £200million.
The revelation comes just weeks after Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, is said to have warned Sir Keir Starmer about a £28billion military funding black hole.
The shortfall raises the prospect of swingeing budget cuts, at the same time as the UK faces the threat of direct conflict with Russia in Ukraine.
Figures released by the Ministry of Defence for the year 2024/25 show that 24,215 MoD civil servants received non-consolidated performance-related pay awards worth £23million.
The maximum value of the bonus, according to the MoD, was £5,000, but not all civil servants received the highest award.
However, several senior MoD civil servants also received six-figure bonuses since 2019, including Mike Green, chief executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, the department that manages armed forces housing.
Britain’s Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, is said to have warned Sir Keir Starmer about a £28billion military funding black hole
The shortfall raises the prospect of swingeing budget cuts, at the same time as the UK faces the threat of direct conflict with Russian Ukraine (stock image)
MoD figures show that he earned over £160,000 in 2024 and was also entitled to a performance pay award of £17,000.
He received the award despite years of complaints about the quality of accommodation offered to personnel and their families.
Andy Start, the CEO of Defence Equipment and Support, received a £160,000 bonus in 2024 on top of his annual salary of £290,000.
Three other executive directors were handed a bonus payment of £40,000 last year.
Colonel Philip Ingram, a former Army intelligence officer, said: ‘While I recognise many MoD civil servants work extremely hard and deliver real capability, there is no way that this level of bonus payments is justified.
‘More programmes have been delayed or failed, recruitment and retention has got worse, the military can do less and less and no one has been held to account. The MoD has a track record for rewarding failure.
‘If the MoD wants a bonus-driven culture it needs an accountability culture alongside it – if those who do well get bonuses, those who fail should be sacked.’
