Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill

Where, after the date of the coming into operation of the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Act, 1977 —

a Member dies either while serving as a Member or within one year from the date when he became entitled to receive a pension under subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act; or

a backbencher dies while in receipt of a pension under subsection (1) of section 4 of this Act,there shall be paid to such of his dependants as the President may think fit, or if there are no dependants, to his legal personal representative, a gratuity of an amount equal either to his annual salary or to his commuted pension gratuity, whichever is the greater, from which there shall be deducted any payment or payments of pension and of gratuity which may already have been made under this Act.(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section —

“annual salary” has the same meaning as in subsection (2) of section 5 of this Act; and

“commuted pension gratuity” means the gratuity which might have been granted to a Member or backbencher in accordance with subsection (1) of section 7 of this Act on the assumption that on the date of his death —

he had qualified for a pension under this Act and had exercised his option and been granted a gratuity in accordance with that subsection; or

notwithstanding that he had not qualified for a pension under this Act, he had been granted a gratuity in accordance with that subsection in respect of all the years of his reckonable service.”.