Parliamentary Pensions etc. Act 1984

Parliamentary pensions: miscellaneous

6 Maximum lump sum payable by way of commutation of pension

(1) The Lord President of the Council may by order made by statutory instrument provide, in relation to persons of any class or description specified in the order, that the permitted maximum for the purposes of subsection (4) of section 11 of the 1972 Act (maximum lump sum payable by way of commutation of pension) shall, instead of being the amount determined under subsection (5) of that section, be an amount calculated in such manner and by reference to such matters as may from time to time be so specified.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, an order under that subsection may—

(a) make different provision for different cases; and

(b) be framed by reference to the opinion of the Trustees or to their approval or require any matter to be established to their satisfaction.

(3) The persons in relation to whom an order under subsection (1) above may be made shall include persons in respect of the commutation of whose pensions notices were given under section 11 of the 1972 Act before the making of the order; and in relation to such persons, an order under subsection (1) above may contain such transitional provisions as appear to the Lord President of the Council to be appropriate.

(4) A statutory instrument containing an order made under subsection (1) above shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

7 Widows' pensions: minor amendment

In the proviso to section 13(4) of the 1972 Act (under which a pension may be paid or restored to a widow who has been cohabiting with another person if the Trustees are satisfied that the cohabitation has ceased and that there are exceptional reasons for the payment of the pension)—

(a) for the word " and " there shall be substituted the word " or "; and

(b) at the end there shall be added the words " notwithstanding that the cohabitation continues. " .

8 Widowers' pensions

(1) After section 13 of the 1972 Act (pensions for widows) there shall be inserted the following section: —

“13A Pensions for widowers.

(1) Subject to the provisions applied by subsection (2) of this section, the widower of a woman who has died after the passing of the Parliamentary Pensions etc. Act 1984 shall be entitled to receive a pension under this section, whether or not his late wife was entitled at the time of her death to receive a pension under section 7 or section 9 of this Act, if—

(a) she had been a Member of the House of Commons at any time after the passing of that Act; or

(b) she was a participant under section 2 of this Act in respect of one or more periods of tenure of a qualifying office and had held such an office at any time after the passing of that Act.

(2) Subsections (2) to (5) of section 13 of this Act shall apply for the purposes of this section with the necessary modifications.”.

(2) In section 14 of the 1972 Act (pensions for certain widowers), after subsection (5) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6) This section shall not apply in the case of a widower who is entitled to receive a pension under section 13A of this Act”.

(3) Accordingly—

(a) in sections 15(4) and 17(1) of the 1972 Act (which contain references to sections 13 and 14 of that Act), after the words " section 13 " there shall be inserted the words " , section 13A " ;

(b) in section 15(6) of that Act (interpretation), after the words " applied by " there shall be inserted the words " section 13A or " ;

(c) subsection (9) of section 7 of the 1978 Act (which applies to widowers' pensions certain provisions made in relation to widows' pensions) shall have effect, in relation to any case where a person is entitled to receive a pension under section 13A of the 1972 Act, as if for the words from " section 14 of that Act" onwards there were substituted the words " section 13A of that Act and the reference to subsections (3) to (5) of section 13 of that Act shall be read as a reference to those subsections as applied by section 13A(2) of that Act "; and

(d) in subsection (8) of section 12 of the 1978 Act (maximum not to apply in case of widows' and widowers’ pensions) for the words " section 14 " and " or 14 " there shall be substituted, respectively, the words " section 13A or 14 " and the words ", 13A or 14 ".

9 Nominations in respect of gratuities payable on death

In section 16 of the 1972 Act (gratuity on death of Member or office-holder payable to nominated person or personal representatives)—

(a) in subsection (lA)(a), for the word " person " there shall be substituted the word " individual "; and

(b) for subsection (1B) (which restricts the persons who may be nominated for the purposes of that section to the husband or wife of the nominator and says how nominations may be made or revoked) there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(1B) The Trustees shall treat a nomination made for the purposes of this section by any person (" the nominator ") as not being in force at the time of the nominator's death—

(a) if the individual nominated was the nominator's wife or husband at the time the nomination was made but has subsequently ceased to be the nominator's wife or husband ; or

(b) if they are of the opinion that the payment of the gratuity to the individual nominated is not reasonably practicable in all the circumstances.

(1C) A nomination for the purposes of this section must be made, and may be revoked, by a notice in writing given to the Trustees; and such a notice must be in such form as the Trustees may require.”.

10 Transfers from other pension schemes

(1) In relation to a request made after the passing of this Act under subsection (1) of section 22 of the 1972 Act (transfers from other pension schemes), subsection (2) of that section (period during which receipt of transfer value may be requested) shall have effect as if—

(a) for the words " twelve months ", there were substituted the words " five years "; and

(b) for the words " the [1981 c. 7.] House of Commons Members' Fund and Parliamentary Pensions Act 1981 " there were substituted the words " the Parliamentary Pensions etc. Act 1984 " .

(2) Subsection (4) of the said section 22 (effect of transfer from other pension scheme by person who is not a Member of the House of Commons) shall have effect, and be deemed always to have had effect, as if for paragraph (a) there were substituted the following paragraph—

“(a) the calculation under section 10 of this Act of the annual amount of any pension shall be made in respect of that person as if—

(i) the number of years for which a contribution credit falls to be calculated under subsection (3) of that section were increased by such number of additional years as may have been determined in relation to those sums by the Trustees, and

(ii) the contribution factor for each of those additional years were such amount as may have been so determined, and”;

and, accordingly, in subsection (5) of the said section 22 (calculation of matters determined by Trustees), after the word " period ", in each place where it occurs, there shall be inserted the words " or number of years; " .

11 Pensions under Part II of 1972 Act: refund of added years contributions

In section 30 of the 1972 Act, after subsection (3) (refund of amounts contributed by a person who subsequently became Prime Minister, Speaker or Lord Chancellor) there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(4) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, any payments made by a contributor (whether before or after the coming into force of this subsection) for the purchase in pursuance of section 11 of the Act of 1978 of additional years of reckonable service shall be treated, for the purposes of subsection (3) of this section, as contributions.

(5) Where—

(a) by virtue of subsection (4) of this section any part of an amount falling to be reduced under subsection (3) of this section represents a sum paid for the purchase in pursuance of the said section 11 of additional years of reckonable service, and

(b) that sum was so paid otherwise than in respect of an obligation that required the making of periodical payments (whether by way of deduction from salary or otherwise) over a period of five years or more,

there shall be disregarded, for the purposes of calculating the amount of the reduction to be made under subsection (3) of this section, so much of that part of the amount falling to be reduced as does not represent interest on that sum.”.