Over £3 million is being sent from Nelson to Pakistan by Britons every year, according to figures released by the Government.

While Bradford tops the list with over £4 million, Nelson comes fifth highest in the UK with £3.4million beating the likes of Manchester. Rochdale meanwhile comes in ninth spot.

Oldham West is fourth with residents sending over £2million to Bangladesh every year.

As a whole £46 million is sent to India every year from the North West and £33 million is sent to Pakistan.

Collectively nearly a billion pounds is sent to the sub-continent by UK residents.

The top 10 were released for a number of different countries but no figures were released for other East Lancashire towns.

In Nelson the average wage is £18,196 and on average £639 is sent per resident each year.

Reasons for sending money overseas are varied. Nearly a third of the money is used to buy food, 21 per cent for medical bills and 17 per cent for schooling.

Such payments are also playing an increasingly important role in the aftermath of natural disasters with payments to Pakistan increasing by £90m after the devastating Kashmir earthquake in 2005.

According to research by the Department for International Development (DFID), the biggest worry for those sending money is whether it will arrive safely.

The official figures were revealed after the launch of a new charter which commits participating firms to be transparent about issues such as how long money transfers abroad will take.

The charter was launched by the Department for International Development.

It has already got over 18,000 outlets on board, the largest signatory being MoneyGram which offers the service through 14,000 Post Office branches.

Speaking following the launch of the new charter, Leon Isaacs, Chief Executive Officer, Developing Markets Associates Limited said: "A lot of people when they send money want to know one of many things such as how much will it cost and will it arrive safely.

"Convenience is also a major issue many people have to contend with.

"For example how far the person receiving the money will have to travel.

"This new charter will help give them more confidence when sending money abroad.

"There is still a large percentage in the community who choose to carry money with them when they travel to the sub-continent.

"There will always be a percentage who will choose to do this.

"But hopefully this new charter will give people a greater confidence in official outlets."