Benefits staff get up to 12 times rate for millennium work

Civil servants working for the government's benefits agency stand to earn 12 times the normal rate if they volunteer to work on new year's eve, according to a survey of millennium pay. The agency is offering the most generous deal among 125 named organisations in the public and private sectors.

Employment researchers Industrial Relations Services said, however, that talk of a millennium pay bonanza was misguided, with only a few employees set to receive substantial payouts for missing the party of a lifetime.

"Large payouts are uncommon, with many employers rewarding their millennium workers in line with normal bank holiday rates - though a large proportion will also offer a bonus payment and/or time off in lieu," said Jeremy Baugh, editor of IRS's pay and benefits bulletin.

The benefits agency employs 74,000 but a spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services Union said only a few were likely to be required to work over the millennium weekend. Employees will be paid triple time for the first three hours overnight on December 31 and/or January 1, rising to 12 times the going rate for every hour over nine.

Among the biggest payers in the private sector will be utilities and finance firms. Britannia building society and First Direct, the telephone banking arm of HSBC, will pay four or five times normal pay. HSBC will award key staff up to eight times the going rate.

Just over half the organisations sampled will be awarding their staff a one-off bonus, ranging from £50 in the footwear industry to £750 for IT and support staff at Barclays Bank.