DWP staff received almost £140 million in bonuses over the last three years

Bonuses at the Department for Work and Pensions totalled £42.1 million for the year 2014-2015

Iain Duncan Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the last three years, the Department for Work and Pensions has handed out £139.9 million in bonuses to its staff - £124.37 million of which has gone to Senior Civil servants.

In the year ending April 2015, the DWP paid out £42.1 million, slightly less than the year before when bonuses totalled £46.5 million.

The DWP has insisted that bonuses are only paid to employees whose work is consistently good or outstanding.

Responding to a written question from Andrew Gwynne MP, Work and Pensions Minister Justin Tomlinson said: "In line with Civil Service pay guidance, DWP rewards employees for their performance through either end of year non-consolidated payments and/or in-year payments. In year payments are limited to 0.23 per cent of the total DWP paybill.

“Employees who have attained agreed performance levels as part of their performance review may receive an end of year non-consolidated payment based on their grade and end of year performance marking. End of year payments are limited to 1.9 per cent of the total DWP paybill”

Figures obtained through Parliamentary Questions revealed that other government departments have increased their bonuses from the previous year. The Department for Education increased their pay out from £1.65 million to £1.76 million.

The Department for Transport increased bonuses from £9.4 million to £9.8 million, while the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills handed out £2.4 million, up from £2.1 million and the Department of Health saw bonuses rise from £998,000 to £1.1 million.