Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1972

PART II Prime Minister, Speaker and Lord Chancellor

26 Pensions of Prime Minister and Speaker

(1) Any person who has (whether before or after the passing of this Act) been appointed Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury or elected Speaker of the House of Commons and has after 1st April 1972 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) ceased to be Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, or ceased to be Speaker, as the case may be, shall, subject to the next following subsection, be entitled to receive a pension under this section.

(2) No pension shall be payable under this section to any person so long as he is in receipt of any salary payable out of the Consolidated Fund or out of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster, or so long as he is in receipt of any salary payable out of moneys provided by Parliament other than a salary or allowance payable out of moneys so provided in respect of his membership of the House of Commons.

(3) Subject to sections 29 and 31 of this Act, the annual amount of a pension payable to a person under this section in respect of the office of Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury shall be £7,500.

(4) Subject to sections 29 and 31 of this Act, the annual amount of a pension payable to a person under this section in respect of the office of Speaker of the House of Commons shall be £6,500.

(5) Any pension payable under this section shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

27 Pensions for dependants of Prime Minister or Speaker

(1) In relation to a person who has held office as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury or as Speaker of the House of Commons at any time after 1st April 1972 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) and has died (whether before or after the passing of this Act) the provisions of sections 13 to 15 of this Act shall (subject to the next following subsection) have effect as if—

(a) he had at the time of his death been entitled to receive a pension under section 7 of this Act, and

(b) the annual amount of that pension had been an amount calculated (in the case of a person who held office as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury) in accordance with subsection (3), or (in the case of a person who held office as Speaker) in accordance with subsection (4), of section 26 of this Act.

(2) In the application of any of the provisions of sections 13 to 15 of this Act in accordance with the preceding subsection, any reference to the Trustees shall be construed as a reference to the Minister for the Civil Service.

(3) Any pension payable under this section shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

(4) In this section any reference to an amount calculated in accordance with subsection (3) or subsection (4) of section 26 of this Act shall be construed as a reference to whichever is the greater of the following amounts, that is to say—

(a) the amount specified in that subsection, and

(b) the amount so specified as increased under section 29 of this Act.

28 Pension of Lord Chancellor

(1) Subject to sections 29 and 31 of this Act, the annual amount of any pension granted under section 3 of the Lord Chancellor's Pension Act 1832 shall, in the case of a person resigning the office of Lord Chancellor after 1st April 1972 (whether before or after the passing of this Act), be £8,500.

(2) In accordance with the preceding subsection section 3 of the [1832 c. 111.] Lord Chancellor's Pension Act 1832 shall be amended by substituting, for the words " £6,250 of lawful money of Great Britain " and for the words " the sum of £6,250 ", the words " an amount calculated in accordance with subsection (1) of section 28 of the Parliamentary and other Pensions Act 1972 and the provisions (other than this Act) referred to in that subsection."

(3) Any Letters Patent issued under that Act before the passing of this Act shall have effect subject to subsection (1) of this section.

29 Preservation of ratio between salary and pension

(1) For the purposes of the application of section 26, section 27 or section 28 of this Act in relation to a person who ceases to hold an office specified in any of those sections at any time after the passing of this Act when an increased salary is payable in respect of that office, or who dies at any such time, the relevant subsection shall have effect as if, for the amount specified in it, there were substituted an amount calculated in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

(2) The amount to be so substituted, in relation to the holder of any such office, shall be an amount bearing the same proportion to the amount specified in the relevant subsection as the increased salary payable in respect of that office immediately before he ceases to hold it, or immediately before his death, as the case may be, bears to the present salary.

(3) In this section—

(a) in relation to the office of Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury or the office of Speaker of the House of Commons, " the present salary " means the salary which under the [1972 c. 3.] Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1972 is payable in respect of that office at the passing of this Act; " increased salary", in relation to any time after the passing of this Act, means the salary payable in respect of that office as for the time being increased under section 1(4) of that Act; and " the relevant subsection " means subsection (3) or subsection (4) of section 26 of this Act, as the case may be;

(b) in relation to the office of Lord Chancellor, "the present salary " means the aggregate of the salaries which at the passing of this Act are payable to the Lord Chancellor in respect of his tenure of that office and as Speaker of the House of Lords; " increased salary ", in relation to any time after the passing of this Act, means the aggregate of those salaries as for the time being increased under section 1(4) of the [1972 c. 3.] Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1972; and " the relevant subsection " means subsection (1) of section 28 of this Act.

30 Transfers to Consolidated Fund and refund of contributions

(1) In respect of any person who has paid contributions (in this section referred to as a " contributor ") and who at any time after 1st April 1972 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) has become Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, Speaker of the House of Commons or Lord Chancellor, the Trustees shall pay into the Consolidated Fund such sum as represents the value of his accrued pension rights under Part I of this Act or under Part II of the Act of 1965.

(2) For the purposes of the preceding subsection the value of a contributor's accrued pension rights under Part I of this Act or under Part II of the Act of 1965 shall be taken to be such sum as for those purposes may be certified by, or calculated in accordance with tables prepared by, the Government Actuary.

(3) In the case of any contributor who has ceased to hold office as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, Speaker of the House of Commons or Lord Chancellor at any time after 1st April 1972 (whether before or after the passing of this Act) or has died at any such time while holding any such office, there shall be paid to him, or (as the case may be) to his personal representatives, out of the Consolidated Fund a sum equal to the aggregate of the contributions paid by him and not previously refunded, with interest from the dates on which the contributions were paid respectively.