The 10 local authority employees with the highest pension benefits had an average annual contribution of around £194,481, over six times the average UK salary (£29,817), according to the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Its newly published Rich List revealed that a further nine of the 10 received pension contributions over £150,000 in 2018/19, while the top five all received in excess of £200,000.

North Lanarkshire council chief officer for health and social care, Janice Hewitt, was the highest remunerated council employee in 2018/9, receiving pension payments totalling £350,116.

Cumbria council's former corporate director for health, care and community services, Brenda Smith, had the second highest pension contributions at £248,941 in 2018/19.

Meanwhile the undisclosed Sefton council head of highways and public protection was third, receiving pension contributions totalling £245,661.

However, a spokesperson for Sefton clarified: “The figure quoted used data from 2018. At that time, this was part of a savings exercise to reduce senior management posts in this specific service area.

“The figure includes a redundancy payment to the individual and a pension payment to the pension fund, not the individual.”

The report also added that figures in council headcounts often don't include employer pension contributions, meaning that the number of staff earning over £100,000 is likely higher than identified within the report considering pension benefits.

Eight out of 10 of those workers with the highest employer pension contributions had listed salaries under £100,000.

This also follows previous research from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which revealed that 23 of the individuals running UK government departments had an average pension pot of £1,065,522 in 2018-19.

The alliance has now called for a freeze on council tax, arguing that households budgets are under an “enormous squeeze from crushing council tax rises” and suggesting that these funds instead be focused on frontline health and care services.

TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive , John O’Connell, stated: “The country needs every council to cut out waste and prioritise key services without resorting to punishing tax hikes on their residents.

“These figures should shine a light on the town hall bosses who’ve got it right, but also allow taxpayers to hold to account those who aren’t delivering value for money at this critical time.”

In response, a North Lanarkshire council spokesperson said: “The Taxpayers’ Alliance is a private company and political pressure group lobbying for low taxation that refuses to disclose its financial backers. Unaccountably, it continues to be presented as some kind of grassroots campaign representing ordinary people.

“As always, the headline figures presented by the Taxpayers’ Alliance are not what they seem. The figures used clearly include staff leaving the organisation who have paid into a pension scheme throughout their working lives and who are entitled to pension payments. These payments are not set by the council.

“They also claim, for example, that someone who works for North Lanarkshire Council was paid in excess of quarter of a million pounds in annual salary. This is, of course, complete nonsense.

“Finally, they claim that an individual received what they claim is ‘remuneration’ of more than £600,000. The employee in question was entitled to a redundancy payment following a restructure and to access their pension entitlement in accordance with the pension regulations. In fact, the payback period for this redundancy was two years and so, from 2021, this represents a saving of £132,000 every single year.

“Unlike the Taxpayers’ Alliance, the council is completely transparent about its funding and pay arrangements and the annual accounts are available on our website.”

A Cumbria County Council spokesperson stated: “The council's approach to pay is to reward its staff appropriately taking into account the need to ensure value for money in respect of the use of public expenditure, balanced against the need to recruit and retain employees who can make the council an effective and efficient organisation that delivers the best possible services for the people of Cumbria within its available resources.”

They added that salaries of senior officers are included in the council’s annual policy statement, which is considered by the full council at its February meeting when the budget for the year ahead is agreed.

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