Westminster government pays workers £1,000 a day

Fury has erupted after it was revealed an under-fire Government department is paying workers at least £1,000 a day each.

Shocking new figures have revealed five contractors were hired to work in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on the “eye-watering” hourly fee last year.

If they worked full-time for seven months they would earn at least £140,000 equivalent to the Prime Minister’s annual wage.

The Sunday Post asked energy department bosses, what job these gold-plated workers had been brought in to do and how much they were paid in total, but they refused to comment.

Last night critics blasted the staggering rates offered to hired help while energy bills continue to soar.

Derek Barton, 67, an executive member of the UK-wide British Pensioners and Trade Union Action Association, blasted: “£1,000 a day is absolutely scandalous. For me, I spend almost 20% of my income on energy.

“It is summer now but I have had to put my heating on they would certainly have no problem paying their fuel bills at that rate.”

Meanwhile separate figures have revealed senior civil servants within DECC, have been awarded performance bonuses of up to £20,000 each.

A freedom of information request revealed all staff in the department were eligible for performance bonuses and 854 workers received a performance bonus last year averaging £908 each.

But senior civil servants deemed to be the highest performing got much more.

A total of 11 staff received between £10,000 and £19,999 each, 19 were handed between £5,000 and £9,999, 162 took between £2,000 and £4,999 and 56 were handed between £1,356 and £1,999.

Tom Greatrex, MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West and Labour’s shadow energy minister, blasted: “After a year of failure, the public will find it difficult to understand why senior civil servants have received these sums.

“The Government’s record on energy in the last year has been dire: an Energy Bill chronically delayed, help for the fuel poor slashed and all whilst profits rise at the Big Six on the back of increases in customer bills.

“This is not a department that can afford to pat itself on the back. Under the hapless stewardship of Lib Dem Secretary of State Ed Davey, the department has singularly failed to fix our broken energy market.

“Labour have set out our proposals to reset the energy market, underpinned by an energy bill price freeze that will save the average household £120.”

Dia Chakravarty, political director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Performance-related bonuses can be a good way of rewarding staff but when everyone in the department gets one, it begins to look a lot more like a pay-rise at taxpayers’ expense.

“Senior staff cannot award themselves this level of bonuses and expect their co-workers and indeed taxpayers to believe that the department is serious about making the savings we desperately need to be making.

“Add to that the fact that outside contractors were employed at eye-watering rates and it seems as if the department is doing very little to provide value for taxpayers’ money.”

A DECC spokesperson said: “In line with civil service principles of pay that is better linked to performance, DECC recognises exceptional contributions and achievements through people’s pay in a fair and cost-effective way.

“Any such payments are non-pensionable and do not form part of any salary package they are earned by the highest performing staff each year.”