Nearly £4m worth of bonuses have been paid to public servants working in Britain’s nuclear industry, it has emerged.
A Freedom of Information request by the Times found the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) paid nearly £3.8m in bonuses to its 315 staff last year. The average bonus was £11,954, with NDA directors receiving bonuses as high as £85,000.
The NDA insisted its bonus policy was strictly based on performance, with awards calculated according to objectives set out in a tailored employee plan. However, one well-placed source claimed that this was simply a formality.
“Most staff receive their entire bonus every year,” he told the Times. “Bonuses are not judged on day-to-day performance – a member of staff could do very little each day and still receive a bonus.”
But an NDA spokesman said the bonus policy helped to attract and retain high-quality staff.
The organisation is currently auctioning three sites earmarked for the construction of new reactors. It has been without a permanent chief executive for nine months since the departure of Ian Roxburgh last summer.
