Lloyds Bank boss Antonio Horta-Osorio is set to pocket a £1.7 million bonus — despite the bank only just crawling back into profit with the help of billions of taxpayers’ pounds.

The part-nationalised bank confirmed it had re-entered the black in 2013 for the first time since its 2008 bailout, turning a £415m profit.

But the bank has had to set aside an extra £1.8 billion to compensate customers who were ripped-off when they were wrongly sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) while taking out loans.

And the TUC said it was too soon to lavish Mr Horta-Osorio with a massive bonus.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “With Lloyds still owing billions to the taxpayer and the amount it has had to set aside for PPI mis-selling rising by a whopping £1.8bn, now is not the time for its chief executive to be taking a multimillion-pound bonus.

“Top bosses at Lloyds should be focusing more on how the bank can support small businesses rather than on the states of their own bank balances.”

Bank-workers’ union Unite added that the bung was a “kick in the teeth” for workers who were last year handed a real-terms pay cut.

National officer Rob MacGregor said: “Lloyds has slashed over 35,000 jobs since 2008, bringing misery for staff.

“Profits have doubled thanks to ordinary workers doing extraordinary work behind the scenes to turn the bank around, but they have been rewarded with an insulting 2 per cent pay deal — the lowest pay deal of the big four banks so far.

“The CEO’s £1.7m bonus, on top of shares worth millions awarded at the end of October, is a kick in the teeth to the taxpayer and to hard-working staff who don’t know if they will be next in line for the chop.

“From the financial crisis to PPI mis-selling, workers in call centres and branches are being forced to pay the price for past failures which were not of their making. But those at the top continue to enjoy bumper bonuses with the help of taxpayers’ money.”