Councillors who deal with transport operations across West Yorkshire could get extra "pay" to put into pension schemes.

Members of West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority (WYPTA) - including five Bradford councillors - will vote at their meeting on Friday whether to accept new allowances with the pensions top-up.

The recommendations have been made after an independent remuneration panel looked for the first time at the allowances they receive for attending meetings of the authority and its many committees and working groups.

The panel was headed by Rodney Brooke, former chairman of West Yorkshire County Council who also led a review into Bradford Council's payments to its members last year.

A report from the panel - which will go to the authority meeting - recommends that the current attendance allowance system, where members claim an average of £635 a year, plus substantial extra special responsibility allowances, should be scrapped.

The panel says the basic allowance should cover expenses which members incur as part of their duties like telephone calls, postage, stationery and office equipment. The PTA members may also get child care allowances of up to £5 an hour for a maximum £15 hours a week.

The pension contribution would be 13.1 per cent of their new basic allowance proposed at £3,663.

The chairman of the PTA would receive a total of £33,549 - including pension provision - if the new system was voted through. In the past year Councillor Mick Lyons claimed £30,525 which included extra cash for special responsibilities and expenses. Chairman of Bradford Passenger Consultative Committee, Councillor John Prestage, was paid £8,547 but the new system would give him £10,024 including a pension allowance.

Chairman of the Rail Working Group, Councillor Ann Ozolins was paid £5,494 and her new rate would be £6,235 if a pension was included.

The report of the panel says: "Members of West Yorkshire PTA are increasingly required to be the equivalent of anything from an advocate on public transport issues to working with partners to deliver services. These demands (on top of those at the district authority levels) are such that many members who put themselves forward for the PTA cannot reasonably expect to pursue a career or make progress in their chosen employment. In particular, it needs to be recognised that everyone is entitled to expect that hard work and effort will, at the very least, be rewarded by a reasonable degree of security in later life.

"Yet the reality for those who become district and West Yorkshire PTA members and do not fulfil their career prospects is that the likelihood to be able to maintain an acceptable income in later life is significantly diminished."

The new system would give members a basic allowance of £3,663 - or £4,143 with a pension top-up.

Today Bradford member Councillor Stanley King (Con, Heaton), said: "I was startled when I saw the report. We all work very hard. Thirty years ago, this work was the equivalent of a full-time Council committee. Now it is very big business and our ambition is to deliver a transport system which people will use spontaneously. We will be re-doubling our efforts."

Councillor Ozolins (Lib Dem, Idle) said she had no problem with the recommendations. "I know I work very hard and at least one full day a week. I hope that in time Bradford Council can also help members with pensions."

But Councillor Bill Hyde, Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group on the authority, said he was taking advice on whether the pensions recommendation was legal.

Councillor Lyons said: "This is a report from an independent panel which will be considered by the authority on Friday."