I begrudge every bonus paid out to high earners

Published: 28 July, 2010

SIR – I would like to disagree wholeheartedly with our MSP Jamie Stone who says that he "would not begrudge anyone a bonus", as reported in your article 'NDA staff earn bumper bonuses'.

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I do begrudge these bonuses being paid out - and this is not out of envy, as I am reasonably content with my lot.

I begrudge every bonus paid out in the private and public sectors to people - most of them already on absurdly high salaries that the rest of us could only dream about - who are only doing the jobs they were appointed to do in the first place.

The big con to the public - that is those of us who are paying the bonuses in one way or another - is that somehow or other they reflect performance over and above the norm.

The spokesperson for the NDA described it as "meeting corporate objectives... including reducing hazards and creating efficiencies".

If these criteria are not already in the said senior managers' job remits in a major nuclear establishment then what are they supposed to be doing?

The other big con is that, by and large, these people are influential in setting their own targets, most of which are already known to be attainable.

I accept that the general public has no control over the corruption that passes for efficiency in the banking bonus culture; but in the public or semi-public sector, or where income is generated from the public sector, then we most assuredly should have a say.

I personally know of one very senior hospital consultant (not locally) who was awarded a "merit award" - a bonus - in his last year of service.

This bonus was equivalent to a full year's salary, which was then taken into account for his final-year pension calculation.

He retired on full salary.

This is iniquitous, especially when "we are all in this together".

To hand out payments of £15,000 to £20,000 in the NDA - and these are paltry compared to other payments in government quangos and branches of the public sector - is an affront to everyone in a low-paid job or who is in receipt of a state pension or benefit.

There should only be one bonus: you can keep your job for another year if you perform satisfactorily.

Tom Allan, 91 Loch Street, Wick.