MoD bonuses prompt families' anger
Updated on 12 November 2009
Families of soldiers who lost their lives or were injured in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq react angrily to the news that MoD civil servants have shared almost £300m since 2003.
A defence minister has told Channel 4 News that civil servants at the MoD will no longer get bonuses "if they've fallen down on the job".
The comment by Quentin Davies follows criticism of the £47m bonus pot paid out this year.
But even as the MoD was fending off the flak over the payments, Channel 4 News has learnt that the Royal Navy is so short of funds it looks set to scrap one its most illustrious vessels.
MoD figures showed that since troops were sent to Iraq in 2003, almost £288m has been paid out in bonuses for "exceptional performance" and this year those bonuses have totalled more than £47m.
The extra payments were made to around 50,000 MoD employees, and the average bonus this year is less than £1,000 per person. But reports suggest some senior officials received more than £8,000.
The figures were revealed by the Conservative party after shadow defence secretary Liam Fox wrote to defence minister Kevan Jones asking for the details of paid bonuses.
His written reply revealed that most bonuses are paid in August and they reached a peak last year when £53m was handed out.
The mother of 21-year-old Private Richard Hunt, who died in hospital two days after he was injured following an explosion while he was on vehicle patrol in Helmand Province, said she was upset by the suggestion that MoD employees had delivered "exceptional performance".
Mrs Hunt said: "They are not delivering and I think it is obscene they have got such bonuses while our troops are being short changed; not only in equipment but also in the fact that my son was barely on £17,000 a year.
"I think it is obscene, I really do, especially in the current climate with the recession and ordinary people losing their houses, including troops."
Phil Cooper, the father of Jamie Cooper who became the youngest soldier injured in the conflict at the age of 18 in 2006, said he was "laughing with astonishment" at the revelations.
Mr Cooper was paid £200,000 compensation for his injuries.
His father said: "I find it ludicrous. It makes me angry that they are being paid £47 million to pat themselves on the backs."
Dr Fox said: "Many in the armed forces will be aghast that bonuses are being paid on the basis of 'outstanding performance'."
"This will only increase the view that the armed forces and the MoD administration are hugely out of balance."
An MoD spokesman said: "These pay awards are met from within salary budget and have no impact on the operational or equipment budget.
"Pay awards were given to around 50,000 civil servants resulting in an average payment of less than £1,000.
"The vast majority of these awards were paid in August as part of previously agreed pay deals, so we are not expecting this year's total to increase significantly."
