Three politicians accused of misusing public money will receive hundreds of thousands of pounds in pensions and benefits as part of a £20 million payoff for British MEPs who retire this week.

Twenty-two British MEPs — more than a quarter of the total — are stepping down. Each will be paid up to two years’ salary to help them to adjust to their new lives and they will share a £10 million index-linked pension pot.

"Three politicians accused of misusing public money will receive hundreds of thousands of pounds in pensions and benefits as part of a £20 million payoff for British MEPs who retire this week."

Seventeen are also members of the European Parliament’s lucrative and controversial second pension scheme, which can provide an additional pension pot of £209,000 for every five-year term served. An eighteenth MEP was a member of the scheme until 2007 and will receive some payment.

• Den Dover, who was expelled from the Conservative Party for gross misconduct after claiming £500,000 in “unjustified expenses”, has a pension valued at £235,000 and will receive a “transitional allowance” of £59,367.

• Ashley Mote, the former UKIP MEP who was jailed for benefit fraud, has a pension worth £174,968 and will receive a transitional payment of £32,382. Both men are in their seventies and can draw the final-salary pensions immediately.

• Tom Wise, the former UKIP MEP who faces trial for fraud and money-laundering related to his expenses, has a pension valued at £235,000 and will get a £32,382 transitional payment.

The first £30,000 of the transitional allowance is tax-free. All three will also receive up to £55,000 to close their offices and lay off staff and are members of the second pension scheme.

MEPs who lose their seats this week will be entitled to the same benefits. Campaigners demanded an end to the practice of giving “golden parachutes to public servants. Mats Persson, of the think-tank Open Europe, said: “It is scandalous that MEPs are receiving this level of pay-offs. If you go into public office you should not be there for making money.”

The pension system is being overhauled after this election, but all existing MEPs receive a primary pension paid for by their home country.

Caroline Jackson, who is standing down after 25 years, has a pension pot worth almost £1 million. This equates to nearly £35,000 a year, according to the financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown. She will also receive the maximum transitional allowance of £129,528.

Retired MEPs usually receive their first pension from the age of 65, but those over 60 with more than 20 years’ service can begin claiming immediately. All MEPs can also take a quarter of their pension value as a tax-free lump sum.

The controversial second pension scheme allows MEPs to have an additional pension pot of up to £209,000 per five-year term, which they can begin drawing on when they reach 63.

MEPs contribute one third, which is deducted from their office expenses, with the other two thirds coming from the Parliament. Members are supposed to reimburse their office allowances, but Mr Persson said that many MEPs had refused to prove that they had done so.

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party leader and MEP for South East England, said: “Jean Lambert [the Green MEP for London] and I believe that the second pension scheme for MEPs is completely inappropriate and an abuse of public finances.” Laith Khalaf, a pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Taxpayers are charged billions of pounds a year for public sector pensions while their own retirement savings dwindle. They are likely to take a dim view of their taxes being used to fund luxury pensions for well-off politicians.”

 

RELATED ARTICLES: