Record £44.3bn paid out in bonuses as average UK worker pockets around £1,600

More than £44 billion was paid out in bonuses in the last financial year - the highest figure on record.

While the average bonus for UK employees was around £1,600, workers in the financial and insurance industry were awarded sums averaging £13,400.

People employed in health and social work had the lowest average bonus of close to zero.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show that total bonus payments rose 4.4% in 2015/16 to a record £44.3 billion.

Workers in finance and insurance saw their bonuses increase by an average of £300.

The ONS said the rise was due largely to firms moving away from deferring bonuses to April and instead paying them in March.

Private sector employees received on average just over £1,900 in bonuses, while public sector workers had a bonus that averaged just over £100.