Is this a grey area? if an IFoA member does not formally leave the IFoA before 1 Oct 2025, but leaves on say 31 Dec 2025, are they subject to the Actuaries' Shackle between 1 Oct and 31 Dec 2025?

Is this a grey area?

If an IFoA member does not formally leave the IFoA before 1 Oct 2025, but leaves on say 31 Dec 2025, are they subject to the Actuaries' Shackle between 1 Oct and 31 Dec 2025?

One view (A) is: by not renewing on 1 Oct 2025 the actuary (or student actuary) is no longer a member, so they are not subject to the Shackle.

Another view (B) is : if they renew before 1 Jan 2026, the IFoA deems them has having remained a member, so in that situation they have remained a member and hence subject to the Shackle continuously. So the IFoA might conceivably argue that if someone leaves on 31 Dec 2025, they were still subject to the Shackle, because they had the option to rejoin and would have been subject to it had they rejoined, so by failing to formally leave they could be said to give their implicit consent to remain subject to it.

It might be worth writing to the IFoA saying that you are not convinced about the benefits of rejoining and are considering whether to do so or not.