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Civil servants shared a bonus pot of almost £130m last year, prompting an outcry from opposition parties.
Figures show that Whitehall bonuses in 2008/09 added up to £129,393,139.50 - around £2 for every man, woman and child in the UK.
And some senior civil servants received bonuses of £50,000 - twice the threshold of Chancellor Alistair Darling's "bonus tax" on bankers announced in the pre-Budget report earlier this month.
Civil servants in the Ministry of Defence received the most, with its civilian staff taking home around £53min 2008/09.
While the Department for Work and Pensions paid more than £23m at an average of £216,
And the Foreign Office spent £7.6m rewarding 4,712 staff - an average of £1,612, including one mandarin who enjoyed a windfall of £30,000.
The figures were revealed in parliamentary questions tabled by MPs and departmental accounts, analysed by the Press Association.
The Tories said that bonuses should not be paid to civil servants in underperforming departments such as the MoD.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: "It is unjustifiable that Whitehall departments which have failed to deliver have still been awarding bonuses.
"There should be no rewards for failure, either in the private sector or public sector.
"Performance-related pay in Whitehall should be linked to increasing efficiency and rewarding civil servants who save taxpayers' money.
"Those who deliver great results for the taxpayer should be well rewarded but no one can defend bonuses indiscriminately handed out."
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "When the whole bonus culture is being discredited, it's absolutely ridiculous for civil servants to be awarded these kinds of payouts.
"What kind of message does it send when the Government talks tough on bonuses for the City whilst allowing Whitehall these bonus pots?
"At a time when people up and down the country are tightening their belts, it is insensitive in the extreme."
But despite the government pledging to curb a "culture of excess" in public sector pay, the bonus pot for 2009/10 is bigger than last year.
The Foreign Office has allocated £8.2m compared to £7.6m in 2008/09, the Department for International Development's may increase its pot from £640,000 to £800,000, and the MoD is planning an increase of almost £6m.
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