House of Commons Members' Fund Act 2016
| Year | 2016 |
House of Commons Members' Fund Act 2016
2016 CHAPTER 18
An Act to consolidate and amend provisions about the House of Commons Members’ Fund.
[12th May 2016]
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
PART 1
House of Commons Members' Fund
1 The Fund
(1) There shall continue to be a House of Commons Members’ Fund.
(2) The purpose of the Fund is to make grants to—
(a) former Members of the House of Commons, and
(b) people who appear to the Fund’s trustees to be or to have been dependen ts of former Members.
(3) The Fund shall be held—
(a) by the trustees, or
(b) if they appoint one of their number as a custodian trustee, by that custodian trustee.
2 Trustees
(1) The trustees of the Fund shall be appointed by resolution of the House of Commons.
(2) There are to be not more than 7 trustees at any time.
(3) The trustees must be Members of the House of Commons (subject to subsections (4) and (6)).
(4) At any time one trustee may be a former Member of the House of Commons; and a resolution appointing a trustee under this subsection must be made—
(a) on a motion moved by a trustee, and
(b) following consultation by the trustees with persons appearing to them to be representative of former Members.
(5) A person ceases to be a trustee upon—
(a) ceasing to be a Member of the House of Commons (unless appointed under subsection (4), and subject to subsection (6)), or
(b) removal by resolution of the House of Commons.
(6) But where one or more persons cease to be Members of the House of Commons by reason of the dissolution of Parliament, they do not cease to be trustees by virtue of subsection (5) until a resolution of the House of Commons takes effect appointing new trustees in their place.
(7) While a former Member is a trustee by virtue of subsection (4) or (6), grants under section 3 may not be made to the former Member or to a dependant of the former Member.
(8) The Schedule to this Act makes provision about the powers and proceedings of the trustees.
3 Grants
(1) The trustees may make payments out of the Fund to people listed in section 1(2).
(2) In determining whether to make payments to a person the trustees shall have regard to—
(a) his or her financial circumstances, and
(b) the state of the Fund.
(3) Payments may be single or periodical.
4 Levy on Members’ salaries: basic amount
(1) Amounts shall be deducted from the salaries of Members of the House of Commons in accordance with this section.
(2) The amounts to be deducted in respect of each financial year shall be set by resolution of the House of Commons.
(3) A resolution may express a deduction as—
(a) a specified sum, or
(b) a specified percentage of salary.
(4) A resolution may not have the effect of requiring any Member to pay more than 0.2% of his or her salary for any financial year.
(5) Amounts to be deducted in respect of a financial year—
(a) are to be deducted from Members’ salaries (before payment) in equal instalments, and
(b) are to be paid into the Fund.
5 Levy on Members’ salaries: variation and suspension
(1) The trustees may by direction increase the amounts set by resolution under section 4 in respect of a specified financial year by the percentage applied for the purposes of Part I of the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 in respect of that financial year.
(2) The trustees may by direction suspend deductions under section 4 while they believe that the Fund has sufficient assets to meet demands on it.
(3) When a suspension is lifted, deductions resume (but without adjustment to recover amounts not collected during the suspension).
6 Resolutions and directions
(1) A resolution under section 4 may be varied, replaced or revoked by a later resolution.
(2) A resolution under section 4 must be made on a motion moved by a person who is both a Member of the House of Commons and a trustee of the Fund.
(3) A resolution under section 4 may relate to—
(a) the financial year in which it is passed,
(b) one or more specified future financial years,
(c) future financial years in general, or
(d) a combination.
(4) Where a resolution under section 4 or a direction under section 5(1) takes effect in respect of the financial year during which it is passed, payments for the remainder of the year shall be adjusted so as to—
(a) give effect to the resolution or direction, and
(b) produce equal instalments for the remainder...
To continue reading
Request your trial