Total staff bonus payments in the UK in the 2015/2016 financial year reached £44.3 billion, a record in cash terms, and 4.4% higher than the previous year.

Annual analysis of bonuses by the Office for National Statistics found that the largest contributor to the growth was the finance and insurance industry.

The ONS said that bonus payments for the finance and insurance industry were £13.9 billion, an increase of 2.2% over the previous year.

Payments made in the rest of the economy increased at a faster rate, however – up by 5.4% on 2014-15 to £30.4 billion.

Looking at the average per employee, finance and insurance paid the highest average bonus, at £13,400, while health and social care paid the lowest average bonus, at close to zero. The average bonus per employee at whole economy level in the year to March 2016 has increased to around £1,600, an increase of 2.4% over the financial year.

ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: “The total of over £44 billion of bonuses represents the first time that the figure has surpassed the previous record set in 2008, when it was £42.5 billion. Although the finance and insurance industry retains the largest share of the total, other industries, particularly among professional and high-tech business services, have been the biggest drivers of growth since 2008.”

Bonus payments in the private sector were £43.7 billion, while in the public sector they remained small compared with those in the private sector.

Bonuses as a percentage of total pay were 6.0% for the whole economy, a small increase on the previous financial year.

Bonuses contributed just over one fifth of total pay in finance and insurance in the 2015-16 financial year, at 22.7%. This is down from 23.1% of total pay in the previous year and compares with a peak of 34.1% seen for the financial year ending 2007.