National Insurance Act 1965

Finance.

83 National Insurance Fund.

(1) The National Insurance Fund shall continue to be maintained under the control and management of the Minister, and—

(a) there shall be paid into that Fund all contributions payable under this Act by employers and insured persons and out of moneys provided by Parliament;

(b) there shall be paid out of that Fund—

(i) all claims for benefit;

(ii) any sums payable by virtue of paragraph 19(b) of Schedule 11 to this Act;

(iii) such sums as are necessary to make good to the Industrial Injuries Fund or the Treasury, as the case may be, the amount by which any payments to be made out of the National Insurance Fund are reduced by reference to sums borne by the Industrial Injuries Fund or by moneys provided by Parliament, as the case may be, by virtue of Schedule 7 to this Act;

(iv) any sums payable out of the National Insurance Fund by virtue of section 13(2) of the [1948 c. 29.] National Assistance Act 1948, section 3(6), 5(2) or 11(2) of the [1948 c. 46.] Employment and Training Act 1948 or section 8(5) of the [1949 c. 37.] Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1949;

(c) there shall be included among the liabilities of the National Insurance Fund any liabilities to which the assets transferred to that Fund or the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund in pursuance of section 66 of the Act of 1946 would have been applicable but for that Act.

(2) Where, under any enactment or otherwise, payments fall to be made by way of adjustment between the National Insurance Fund and the Industrial Injuries Fund, then, in such cases or classes of case as the Minister may with the consent of the Treasury determine, the amount due from either of those Funds to the other shall be taken to be such as may be so determined and payments on account thereof shall be made at such times and in such manner as the Minister may with the like consent direct.

(3) Where in the opinion of the Minister any of the assets referred to in subsection (1)(c) of this section which for the time being form part of the assets of the National Insurance Fund are unsuitable for retention as assets of that Fund, they may be sold or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the Minister may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.

(4) Accounts of the National Insurance Fund shall be prepared in such form, in such manner and at such times as the Treasury may direct, and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and certify every such account and shall lay copies thereof, together with his report thereon, before Parliament.

(5) Any moneys forming part of the National Insurance Fund may from time to time be paid over to the National Debt Commissioners and by them invested, in accordance with such directions as may be given by the Treasury, in any securities which are for the time being authorised by Parliament as investments for savings banks funds.

(6) The National Debt Commissioners shall present to Parliament annually an account of the securities in which moneys forming part of the National Insurance Fund are for the time being invested.

84 National Insurance (Reserve) Fund.

(1) The National Insurance (Reserve) Fund shall continue to be maintained under the control and management of the Minister as a reserve for the National Insurance Fund.

(2) Section 83(3) to (6) of this Act shall apply to the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund as they apply to the National Insurance Fund.

(3) Any sums determined by the Treasury to be income of the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund shall be paid into the National Insurance Fund.

(4) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, a payment out of the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund shall not be made otherwise than under the authority of a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament and shall be made subject to such conditions as to repayment or otherwise as may be specified in the resolution.

(5) There may be transferred from time to time from the National Insurance Fund to the National Insurance (Reserve) Fund such assets as the Minister, with the approval of the Treasury, may determine.

85 Expenses of Minister and other government departments.

(1) Without prejudice to subsection (4) of this section, any expenses incurred by the Minister or any other government department (except the Postmaster General) in carrying this Act into effect, including—

(a) such part of the sums referred to in subsection (2) of this section as is attributable to the execution of this Act;

(b) expenses in connection with any inquiry undertaken on behalf of the Minister with a view to obtaining statistics relating to the operation of this Act; and

(c) any expenses which under section 9(2) of the [1955 c. 19 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2.).] Friendly Societies Act 1955 are to be treated as expenses incurred in carrying this Act into effect,

shall, unless required by or under some provision of this Act to be paid and borne in some other manner, be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) The Minister shall from time to time pay to the Postmaster General as part of the expenses of the Minister in carrying into effect the following enactments respectively, that is to say—

(a) this Act;

(b) the Industrial Injuries Act;

(c) the Family Allowances Act;

(d) section 89 of the Industrial Injuries Act of 1946 ;

(e) the [1951 c. 22.] Workmen's Compensation (Supplementation) Act 1951;

(f) the Industrial Diseases (Benefit) Acts 1951 and 1954;

(g) the [1956 c. 51.] Workmen's Compensation and Benefit (Supplementation) Act 1956,

sums of such amounts as may be agreed between the Minister and the Postmaster General for work done by the Postmaster General in the execution of the said enactments; and any sums so paid shall, where necessary for the purpose of determining what part of those sums should be attributed to each respectively of those enactments, be apportioned between them in such manner as may be determined by the Minister in accordance with any directions given by the Treasury.

(3) Without prejudice to any right of recovery or retainer under this Act, any expenses of a Minister of the Crown in making under section 62 of this Act payments in lieu of contributions shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament ; and any sums recovered or retained by a Minister of the Crown in respect of any such payments shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(4) There shall be paid to the Treasury out of the National Insurance Fund, at such times and in such manner as the Treasury may direct, such sum as the Minister may estimate in accordance with subsections (5) to (7) of this section and with directions given by the Treasury to be the amount of the expenses incurred as mentioned in subsection (1) thereof.

(5) Subject to subsections (6) and (7) of this section, in estimating for the purposes of subsection (4) of this section the expenses incurred as mentioned in subsection (1) thereof there shall be included—

(a) such amount in respect of any pension benefits which will or may become payable in respect of a person's service as National Insurance Commissioner or deputy Commissioner under this Act or in respect of a person's employment as officer, inspector or servant for the purposes of this Act as in the opinion of the Treasury approximately represents the amount of the accruing liability for the sums which will become payable out of moneys provided by Parliament for those pension benefits, after taking into account that person's contributions, if any;

(b) an amount determined by the Treasury with the consent of the Minister in respect of the use of any premises belonging to the Crown and used for the purposes of this Act, regard being had in making that determination to the rental value of the premises.

(6) There shall be left out of account in estimating for the purposes of subsection (4) of this section the expenses incurred as mentioned in subsection (1) thereof—

(a) any expenses incurred by virtue of section 62 or 112 of this Act;

(b) any sums paid for pension benefits in respect of a person's service as National Insurance Commissioner or deputy Commissioner and, so far as estimated by the Minister to be attributable to the operation of section 5(2) or 8(1) to (3) of the Family Allowances Act or section 36 of the Industrial Injuries Act, the accruing liability for such pension benefits.

(7) There shall be left out of account for the purposes of subsections (1) and (4) of this section any expenses, or amounts which under subsection (5) of this section would otherwise fall to be included in estimating expenses, in so far as they are treated—

(a) under section 61(1)(b) to (d) of the Industrial Injuries Act as expenses incurred in carrying that Act into effect; or

(b) under section 16 of the Family Allowances Act as expenses incurred in the administration of that Act; or

(c) for the purposes of section 3(1) of the Health Contributions Act as attributable to the collection and application of national health service contributions.

(8) In subsection (2) of this section, the references to this Act, the Industrial Injuries Act and the Family Allowances Act shall (except so far as otherwise provided, whether expressly or by implication) respectively include references to any enactments which, under any Act passed after this Act, are included in any citation which uses the phrase " the National Insurance Acts ", " the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Acts " or " the Family Allowances Acts ", as the case may be; and in subsections (5)(a) and (6)(b) of this section, the expression pension benefits " includes benefits payable on retirement or death by way of lump sum or gratuity, and benefits payable in respect of a person's service or employment to other persons by way of widow's or orphan's pension or otherwise.

86 Reports by Government Actuary.

(1) The Government Actuary shall—

(a) review the operation of this Act during the period of five years ending with 31st March in 1969 and in every fifth year thereafter and, on each such review, make a report to the Treasury on the financial condition of the National Insurance Fund and the adequacy or otherwise of the contributions payable under this Act to support the benefits payable thereunder having regard to its liabilities under section 85(4) of this Act and any other liabilities under this Act;

(b) make an interim review of, and report to the Treasury on, the operation of this Act during the period of twelve months ending with 31st March in every year other than the year in which the period to be covered by a review and report under the foregoing paragraph ends:

Provided that the Treasury may at any time direct that the period to be covered by a review and report under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be reduced and that the making of that and subsequent reviews and reports under that paragraph shall be accelerated accordingly, and may dispense with the making of a review and report under paragraph (b) thereof in any year.

(2) The Treasury shall lay before Parliament a copy of every report made to them under this section.

(3) Any function under this section of the Government Actuary may be performed by the Deputy Government Actuary.

87 Quinquennial reviews of rates of benefits.

(1) As soon as may be after a copy of any report under section 86(1)(a) of this Act is laid before Parliament, the Minister shall review the rates and amounts of benefit in relation to—

(a) the circumstances at the time of insured persons in Great Britain, including in particular the expenditure which is necessary for the preservation of health and working capacity; and

(b) any changes in those circumstances since the rates and amounts of benefits were laid down by this Act or any Act amending it and to the likelihood of future changes.

(2) On the completion of any review under this section the Minister shall lay a report thereon before Parliament.