Senior civil servants will get bonuses for exceptional performance for the first time under a new system that Darren Jones, the Cabinet Office minister, said would reward the “doers, not the talkers”.

Jones, who is also chief secretary to the prime minister, said most civil servants would get a 3.5% pay rise, but senior staff would have a base increase of 2.5%, with 1% held back for bonuses for the highest performing officials.

The idea of performance-related pay for senior civil servants was announced as a trial by the Conservatives before the last election and has since been championed by Labour.

In January, Jones set out his ambition to “rewire” the civil service, pledging to bring in bonuses for top performers across senior ranks to encourage excellence.

On Thursday, he said the government wanted to award “higher but fewer bonuses to those exceptional senior civil servants who go above and beyond”.

The government did not accept the pay review body’s recommendation for a 3.5% increase for senior staff, instead opting to retain some cash to reward a few top performers.

It will bring in an uplift of £5,000 to the lowest band of senior civil servant pay, meaning some more officials will get rises.

Jones added: “This is just the start to improving our pay system … This is one of the many steps I am taking to power up the system to make sure words are turned into action and what happens in Westminster is followed through to the streets, schools and livelihoods of people in every part of the country.”

Lauren Crowley, the assistant general secretary of the FDA, the union for senior civil servants, said the 3.5% overall award compared favourably to the wider public sector and current inflation figures.

“Pay systems across the civil service have been blighted by a lack of meaningful pay progression for almost two decades,” she said. “The ability to move up a pay band based on delivery, skills and experience should be a feature of any well-functioning workplace. Its absence has had detrimental consequences on morale, delivery and both attracting and retaining talent.

“The changes to senior civil service pay announced today are finally beginning to address this and have been achieved through sustained work and negotiation. However, pay progression for the rest of the civil service – the majority of our membership – has not yet been secured.”

Jones’s speech in January centred on a promise to “move fast, fix things”, creating savings of £2bn a year by 2030. He also suggested more civil servants would be “shown the door” if they did not meet standards.

The government has made a stream of announcements this week as Keir Starmer faces pressure to show he is delivering for the country at a time of threat to his leadership. The views of his potential rivals, including Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham, on civil service reform are not yet known.