Bonuses for city workers have increased by a huge 30 per cent to a record £14bn this year.

Reported by The Guardian the rise is twice as big as 2006 and, say the paper, is likely to exacerbate the widening gap between executive and shop-floor pay.

Analysis by The Guardian of preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics shows that bonuses across the economy rose 24 per cent this spring to £26.4bn, comfortably exceeding the country’s entire transport budget.

Commenting on the record bonuses, Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: “These figures suggest that the fortunes of the City super-rich show no sign of abating while thousands of vulnerable workers languish on poverty wages. How to tackle the increasingly inequitable nature of our society will be the top concern of unions in Brighton next month.”

But according to Richard Lambert, the director-general of the CBI, bonuses provide an important part in motivating employees: “Bonuses, like other performance-related pay mechanisms, are a very effective way to motivate employees and are used across the entire business spectrum, not just the financial services sector.”

He added that the City contributed enormously to the vitality of the country and paid about one-fifth of all corporate tax revenues last year.