Bradford Council made one of the largest increases in local authority employer pension contributions last year with taxpayers funding almost £35 million in contributions, a report out today has revealed.

The research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance found contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme rose by almost £4.5 million from £30,436,953 in 2009-10 to £34,907,346 in 2010/11 – the ninth highest rise in the country.

The report also revealed Bradford Council had the seventh largest number of councillors, 54, enrolled in the pension scheme last year.

Employer contributions from councils amounted to £5.063 billion across the country – the equivalent of £1 in every £5 of Council Tax raised in the UK.

Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It’s unacceptable that ordinary families and pensioners, who have seen council tax bills almost double in the last decade, have so much of their money spent on council pensions.

“These gold-plated retirement deals have all but disappeared in the private sector and it simply isn’t sustainable to keep the system as it is.”

But Bradford Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood, chairman of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, said: “In our view it’s wise for anybody who’s receiving an income to invest some of that income in a pension, this is a prudent way to do that.”

Commenting on the rise in Council contributions, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “At last year’s budget round the Liberal Democrats challenged the fact that the Council was paying more than the actuarial evaluation said was necessary. We queried it at the time and had it at a lower rate in our budget. Councillors are in a different scheme to officers so the rates of contribution that councillors pay are different.”

Some 4,548 councillors have opted into local authority schemes, up by 1,000 from 2007-08, the report found.