Electricity Act 1947

54 Provisions as to pension rights.

(1) The Minister and the Secretary of State may make joint regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say—

(a) for providing pensions to or in respect of persons who are or have been in the employment of an Electricity Board or a Consultative Council, or persons who have been members of the Central Electricity Board or have been employed by any body to whom Part II of this Act applies or have been employed whole-time for the purpose of administering undertakings or parts of undertakings of authorised undertakers, but who have not been taken into the employment of an Electricity Board as aforesaid;

(b) for the establishment and administration of pension schemes and pension funds for the purposes of the foregoing paragraph, for the continuance, amendment, - repeal or revocation of existing pension schemes relating in whole or in part to the like purposes and of enactments relating thereto and of trust deeds, rules or other instruments made for the purposes thereof, for the transfer in whole or in part, or for the extinguishment, of liabilities under any such existing pension schemes, and for the transfer in whole or in part, or winding up, of pension funds held for the purposes of any such existing pension schemes, so, however, that nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as authorising the diversion of any such funds to purposes other than those of the foregoing paragraph;

(c) for making any provision consequential on any such provision as aforesaid including provision for the dissolution or winding up of bodies, whether incorporated or not, the continued existence whereof is unnecessary having regard to the regulations.

(2) Where provision is made by any such regulations for the amendment, repeal or revocation of any existing pension scheme or of any enactment relating thereto or any trust deed, rules or other instrument made for the purposes thereof, or for the transfer or extinguishment of any liability under any pension scheme or for the transfer or winding up of any pension fund held for the purposes of any such scheme, the regulations shall be so framed as to secure that persons having pension rights under the scheme, whether such persons as are mentioned in paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection or not, are not placed in any worse position by reason of the amendment, repeal, revocation, transfer, extinguishment or winding up:

Provided that this subsection shall, have effect subject to such limitations as may be prescribed for meeting cases in which, in connection with any provision made by this Act or in anticipation of the making of any such provision, pension rights have been created otherwise than in the ordinary course.

(3) Regulations made under this section shall not be invalid by reason that in fact they do not secure that persons having pension rights, are not placed in any worse position by reason of any such amendment, repeal, revocation, transfer, extinguishment or winding up as is mentioned in the last foregoing subsection, but if the Minister and the Secretary of State are satisfied or it is determined as hereinafter mentioned that any such regulations have failed to secure that result, the Minister and the Secretary of State shall as soon as possible make the necessary amending regulations.

Any dispute arising as to whether or not the said result has been secured by any regulations made under this section shall be referred to a referee or board of referees appointed by the Minister of Labour and National Service, after consultation with the Lord Chancellor or, where the proceedings are to be held in Scotland, after consultation with the Secretary of State, for his or their determination thereon, and the decision of that referee or board shall be final.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this section, regulations made under this section may contain provisions authorising any person who, being a participant in any pension scheme to which the regulations relate, becomes a member of an Electricity Board, being treated as if his service as a member, of the Board were service in the employment of the Board, and the pension rights of any such person resulting from the operation of any such provision shall not be affected by any provision of this Act which requires that "the pensions, if any, which are to be paid in the case of members of the Board are to be determined by the Minister with the approval of the Treasury.

(5) Subject to any regulations made under this section, the provisions of this Act which vest liabilities and obligations of a body to whom Part II of this Act applies in an Electricity Board shall apply in relation to customary obligations of the body in respect of pensions notwithstanding that the body was under no legal obligation in respect of those pensions, and if any question arises as to the existence or extent of any such customary obligation, the question shall, in default of agreement, be referred to a referee or board of referees appointed by the Minister of Labour and National Service, after consultation with the Lord Chancellor, or where the proceedings are to be held in Scotland, after consultation with the Secretary of State, and the decision of that referee or board shall be final and the Electricity Board shall give effect to that decision.

(6) Nothing in this section, and in particular nothing in subsection (2) thereof, shall be taken to derogate from-the power conferred by subsection (4) of section sixty-nine of the [9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 67.] National Insurance Act, 1946, to make regulations providing for the modifying or winding up of pension schemes in connection with the passing of that Act.

(7) Regulations made under this section may contain such supplementary and consequential provisions as the Minister and the Secretary of State think necessary, including provisions as to the manner in which questions arising under the regulations are to be determined and provisions adapting, modifying or repealing enactments, whether of general or special application.

(8) Regulations made for the purposes of this section may be made so as to have effect from a date prior to the making thereof, so, however, that so much of any regulations as provides that any provision thereof is to have effect from a date prior to the making thereof shall not place any person other than an Electricity Board in a worse position than he would have been if the regulations had been made to have effect only as from the date of the making thereof.