The payments are part of an effort to reverse a 37 percent drop in Apple's stock price during the past seven months amid intensifying concerns about the company's shrinking profit margins as it faces more competition in a mobile computing market that Apple revolutionized with its iPhone and iPad lines.
Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb accused Labour of announcing a series of "one-off" payments to pensioners ahead of the last general election, despite planning to reverse these bonuses if it had been re-elected.