One in four rely on bonuses

More than one in four employees rely on bonuses at work to boost their take-home pay, new analysis conducted on behalf of mortgage lender Kensington shows.

Its analysis of government data shows 27.8% of UK workers – the equivalent of 8.62 million employees – receive bonuses on top of their regular salary.

The bonus capital of the UK is not London but Derby, where 46.9% of employees receive bonuses. Central London ranked just sixth behind Bracknell Forest, Milton Keynes, Windsor, Maidenhead and Cheshire East.

Employees in Torbay and Middlesbrough are the least likely to receive bonuses. Just 14.1% in Torbay do, compared with 15.6% in Middlesbrough.

Men are more likely to receive bonuses than women – the analysis shows 34.7% of male workers receive bonuses compared with just 21.1% of female workers.

ONS data shows total bonuses paid across the UK in the year to April 2014 were worth £40.5 billion and contributed an average of 6% to total pay. However, there are huge differences in industries, with average finance and insurance bonuses worth 24.2% of total pay and £13,300.

The table below shows the top 10 local authority regions for bonuses and the 10 local authorities where workers are least likely to receive bonuses.

Top 10
• Derby 46.9%
• Bracknell Forest 46.4%
• Milton Keynes 41.6%
• Windsor & Maidenhead 41.6%
• Cheshire East 41.3%
• Central London 40.8%
• Swindon 40.5%
• Slough 39.5%
• Flintshire 38.6%
• Warrington 38%

Bottom 10
• Torbay 14.1%
• Middlesbrough 15.6%
• Carmarthenshire 16.1%
• Pembrokeshire 16.5%
• Isle of Wight 16.7%
• East Ayrshire 17.5%
• Merthyr Tydfill 17.7%
• Derry 17.8%
• Midlothian 17.9%
• Cynon Taf 18.4%