Despite a two-year public sector pay freeze, last year more than 100 civil servants received bonuses of more than £10,000. Some awards seem beyond the bounds of irony: the Government’s Debt Management Office, for example, paid bonuses to all its directors last year, with Jim Juffs, the chief operating officer, receiving an additional £15,000. Sue Gray, the Cabinet Office’s head of propriety and ethics, was given a bonus of between £10,000 and £20,000. One might question the propriety of such an award when less prominent public servants are expected stoically to accept government cuts. Furthermore, some civil servants have chosen to disregard new Cabinet Office rules which state that no non-executive director should be paid more than £15,000 a year. The Department for Transport has not applied the cap to three of its board members because of their “high calibre, reputation and experience”.