Bonus row hits defence bureaucrats

Thursday, 12 November 2009 12:00 AM

By Alex Stevenson

Civil servants' bonuses in the Ministry of Defence have been condemned by bereaved military families as "obscene".

Civilian staff within the MoD have already received £47 million so far this financial year. Last year they received £52 million in bonuses.

Relatives of soldiers who have died in Afghanistan expressed anger at the news, revealed by defence minister Kevan Jones in response to a parliamentary question.

Hazel Hunt, whose 21-year-old son Richard was killed in August, said: "It's 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.

"You wouldn't imagine a single civil servant going out to the front line for that money."

Home secretary Alan Johnson defended the bonus scheme, which will see ordinary staff receive bonuses of around £1,000, on GMTV this morning.

He pointed out many civilian staff within the MoD had to go to Afghanistan and work in "dangerous" conditions, which meant they deserved their bonuses.

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