The average bonus for a full-time worker in the UK was £2,242 in 2018, according to analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics by recruitment organisation Aaron Wallis, but the average for males at £2,613 was nearly twice that for females at £1,158.
The research also found that full-time workers in London earned an annual bonus total of more than three times the national average in 2018, at £6,912. The region with the next highest average was the south east (£2,213), followed by the east (£1,772), the north west (£1,627), Scotland (£1,567) and the west midlands (£1,566).
Wales was the region with the lowest average bonus rate, at £1,101, followed by the east midlands (£1,424), Yorkshire and Humber (£1,450) and the south west (£1,489).
Corporate managers and directors had the largest average bonus, at £7,878, a long way ahead of business, media and public service professionals (£2,271) in second place, and science, research, engineering and technology professionals (£2,197) in third.
Caring personal services occupations had the lowest average bonus rate, at just £37, followed by health professionals (£180), elementary administration and service occupations (£232), elementary trades and related occupations (£368) and secretarial and related occupations (£415).
According to the research, incentive pay has yet to reach the level of its peak in 2008, when the average annual bonus total was £3,038.
Rob Scott, managing director at Aaron Wallis, said: "Encouragingly, our research suggests that bonus pay is on the rise, with average private sector bonuses seeing consistent growth since 2015. However, this is still a long way off the bonuses that UK workers were receiving before 2009.
"Particularly in private sector roles like sales or recruitment, incentive pay forms a key part of workers' annual income and it's important for both employers and workers to make sure they're keeping up with the trends of bonus pay in the market."
