The European Parliamentary (United Kingdom Representatives) Pensions (Consolidation and Amendment) Order 1994

Membership

4.—(1) Any person serving as a Representative shall be a participant in the scheme unless he has exercised an option under paragraph (2) below not to be a participant.

(2) A participant may exercise an option in writing under this paragraph not to be a participant in the scheme.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) below, the effective opt-out date in respect of a Representative is whatever date the Managers shall determine to be the earliest practicable date after that on which they receive from him written notice of the exercise of the option.

(4) If the Managers receive the written notice not more than three months after the date of a general election or by-election at which the person was elected for the first time as a Representative, the effective opt-out date is the date of that election and any contributions deducted from his salary since that election under article 5 shall be repaid to him.

(5) A Representative who has exercised his right under paragraph (2) above to opt out of the scheme is referred to in this Order as an “opted-out Representative”.

(6) An opted-out Representative may apply to rejoin the scheme as a participant as from the date of any general election or by-election at which he was elected as a Representative (“the effective opt-in date”) by giving notice in writing to the Managers within a period of three months beginning with the effective opt-in date provided that he pays to the Managers within twenty-eight days of their acceptance of his application, or within such longer period as the Managers may in their discretion determine, the sum certified by the Managers as being the amount which would have been deducted from his salary under article 5 between the effective opt-in date and the first date thereafter when a deduction from his salary under article 5 is made.