South Bucks is home to some of the highest taxpaying pensioners in the country, new figures reveal.

HR Revenue and Customs statistics show pensioners across the UK paid a £24 billion total income tax bill in 2015/16, according to mutual insurer Royal London.

South Bucks is ranked number five in a list of the local authority areas with the highest average pensioner income tax bills, with residents forking out £14,111 per year.

The district has the highest tax bill for pensioners outside of London, falling behind Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden and Epping Forest.

The figures were unveiled following analysis of a Freedom of Information Response from the government department as well as data from published sources.

The tax paid by pensioners would be on various sources of income, such as employment, self-employment and property.

Royal London found that between the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s, the number of taxpayers aged over 65 across the country has nearly doubled - from 3.32 million in 1995-96 to 6.49 million in 2015-16 - the most recent year for which detailed figures are available.

It is estimated that the number has broadly stabilised since then, and stands at around 6.37 million in 2018-19, Royal London said.

Figures supplied to Royal London for 2015-16 also included around 400,000 women who had reached their state pension age but were aged under 65.

Looking at average pensioner tax bills, the highest were found in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea - where the average pensioner who pays income tax forks out £32,250. The London boroughs of Westminster, Camden, Barnet and Hammersmith and Fulham were also in the top 10.

Sir Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London said: "Many people might assume that once you retire you cease to be of interest to the taxman.

"But these figures show that this is very far from being the truth.

"The number of taxpaying pensioners has nearly doubled in the last two decades.

"With talk of also requiring pensioners to pay national insurance on any earnings or even pensions, the older population may start thinking of themselves as 'Generation still taxed'.

A treasury spokesman said: "The Government has made security in retirement a central part of its reforms since 2010 through the introduction of automatic enrolment, the single tier new state pension and the triple lock.

"We want to encourage pension saving, to help ensure that people have an income, or funds on which they can draw, throughout retirement.

"This is why, for the majority of savers, pension contributions are tax-free. In 2016/17, people benefited from income tax and employer National Insurance Contributions relief worth more than £50 billion."