Army Act 1992

1992 CHAPTER 39

An Act to provide for members of the Ulster Defence Regiment to cease to be members of that Regiment at the end of June 1992; to provide for the amendment of section 2 of the Armed Forces Act 1966 in relation to service in Northern Ireland; and for connected purposes.

[16th March 1992]

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:—

1 Serving members of Ulster Defence Regiment

(1) Any person who is a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment at the commencement of this Act shall cease to be a member at that time and, if his term of service with the Regiment would have continued after that time,—

(a) he shall continue to be a member of the armed forces until the term of service current at that time expires or is otherwise brought to an end, and

(b) he may be transferred to another corps in the same way as a member of the regular forces serving in a corps other than the Ulster Defence Regiment.

(2) Except so far as they are altered by virtue of subsection (1) above (and without prejudice to any alteration made otherwise than by virtue of that subsection) the conditions of service of a person within paragraph (a) of that subsection shall be the same after the commencement of this Act as they are before that time, except that they shall not include conditions restricting to Northern Ireland any requirement as to training.

2 Regulations as to terms and conditions of service, etc

(1) In subsection (1) of section 2 of the [1966 c. 45.] Armed Forces Act 1966 (power of the Defence Council to make regulations as to engagement of persons in regular forces), after paragraph (h) there shall be inserted—

“(i) enabling service in the army (or service in the army otherwise than for the purposes of training) to be restricted to service in Northern Ireland”.

(2) After that subsection there shall be inserted—

“(1A) In the case of persons whose service (or service otherwise than for the purposes of training) is restricted to service in Northern Ireland, subsection (1) above shall have effect as if references to full-time service included references to part-time service (or to a combination of full-time and part-time service).

(1B) In subsection (1A) above references to part-time service include references to service by a person who is required to serve only at such times as he may be called out in accordance with the regulations.”

(3) The provisions of the [1985 c. 17.] Reserve Forces (Safeguard of Employment) Act 1985 applicable in Northern Ireland shall apply to a person who is, or is liable to be, called out—

(a) in accordance with regulations made by virtue of section 2(1A) of the [1966 c. 45.] Armed Forces Act 1966, or

(b) in accordance with any Royal Warrant regulating the conditions of service of officers,

as they apply to a person who has entered, or (as the case may be) may be required to enter, upon a period of whole-time service in the circumstances mentioned in section 1(1)(a) of that Act.

(4) Any service rendered by a person called out as mentioned in subsection (3) above, and any continuous period of training of seven days or longer performed by a person liable to be called out as mentioned there, shall be relevant service within the meaning of the provisions of the [1951 c. 65.] Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951 applicable in Northern Ireland.

3 Enactments relating to the Ulster Defence Regiment

(1) Sections 7 and 139(2) of the [1980 c. 9.] Reserve Forces Act 1980 are hereby repealed.

(2) Sections 10(5), 24, 25, 44, 139(1) and 140 to 144 of that Act shall apply with the necessary modifications in relation to any person within section 1(1)(a) above for the remainder of his term of service current at the commencement of this Act.

(3) In section 44 of that Act, as it has effect by virtue of subsection (2) above, the words “in Northern Ireland” and the words “which is for the time being in Northern Ireland” shall be omitted.

(4) Section 1(1)(c) of the [1975 c. 24.] House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 and section 1(1)(c) of the [1975 c. 25.] Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975 shall have effect as if the references to persons who are for the time being members of the Ulster Defence Regiment were references to persons for the time being within section 1(1)(a) above.

4 Expenses

There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament any increase attributable to this Act in the sums paid out of money so provided under any other enactment.

5 Commencement

This Act shall come into force on 1st July 1992.

6 Short title

This Act may be cited as the Army Act 1992.