The 23 individuals who run UK government departments had an average pension pot of £1,065,522 in 2018-19, new research from the TaxPayers' Alliance has revealed.

The "lavish" pensions have prompted the TaxPayers' Alliance to call for “all new civil servants [to] join on the basis of a defined contribution pension, and be funded, rather than unfunded”, arguing that “private sector taxpayers on less generous schemes should not be left subsiding unfunded generosity afforded to their public sector counterparts”.

Commenting on the research, TaxPayers' Alliance research director, Duncan Simpson, stated: “Lavish pensions for senior public servants stand out as a sumptuous perk of Whitehall life that continues to survive, despite typical taxpayers seeing their own savings squeezed.”

This research showed that the average pot would equate to £57,717 a year during retirement, 94 per cent higher that the average gross UK salary in 2018 (£29,817).

The three mandarins with the largest annual pensions are expected to see a pension of at least £85,000 to £90,000 a year.

A further 13 of the top civil servants had a pension pot worth more than £1m, with the largest pot held by the head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Simon McDonald, whose pension is currently valued at £2,055,000.

Simpson added: "It seems unjust that annual pension payments for the civil service top brass will be worth almost double the average salary.

“Politicians need to put an end to the Whitehall pensions racket once and for all by implementing real reforms that make them affordable for taxpayers who don't get gold-plated perks.”

The thinktank produced similar research last year, which revealed that public sector pensions at the time were, on average, three times larger than their private sector counterparts.

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