Analysis indicates that banks distributed bonuses totaling £16.4 billion in the initial quarter of this year, marking the highest amount since the financial crisis of 2008.
The substantial sum awarded between January and March, a period when many top earners receive significant annual bonuses, follows a year of substantial profits for major banks in the UK. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a bank windfall tax increase, labeling it as “common sense and long overdue.”
Economists attribute much of the public’s discontent and frustration to the sluggish growth in living standards since the 2008 banking crisis. The government’s bailout of banks with billions of pounds led to a spike in public debt, prompting austerity measures and tax hikes.
Data from the Office for National Statistics, as analyzed by the TUC, suggests that bonuses amounting to £25 billion were paid to approximately 1.1 million employees in the finance and insurance sector in the year ending March 2025, with the largest portion, £16.4 billion, distributed from January to March.
Additional figures illustrate the significant bonuses received by executives at leading UK banks. Lloyds Banking Group’s CEO, Charlie Nunn, received £7.4 million in total for the previous year, including £4 million in bonuses. NatWest’s chief, Paul Thwaite, also obtained £4 million in bonuses as part of a £6.5 million package for 2025.
Although the bonus data encompasses all employee levels, it is skewed by traders and others who receive substantial payouts. Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Mansion House speech, the TUC is advocating for a raise in the bank surcharge tax to reduce energy costs for most households through a social tariff.
The TUC proposes that a 16% surcharge could generate £24 billion over four years, while a 35% surcharge, equivalent to the windfall tax imposed on energy firms by the Conservatives, could yield £60 billion over the same period. Even reinstating the surcharge at 8%, the TUC claims, would raise £9 billion over four years.
Following the £45.7 billion combined profits of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest in 2025, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak remarked on the disparity between rising bank bonuses and impending financial challenges for the public.
Positive Money’s Sara Hall criticized the disconnect between record bonuses and the ongoing cost of living crisis, suggesting that the Government should intervene to assist struggling households and businesses with the windfall profits banks have amassed.
Hall also emphasized the opportunity for Andy Burnham to implement policies that benefit the public without financial burden on the Government, potentially enhancing public trust in the process.
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