Armed Forces Act 1966

9 Consents to entry of young persons into Royal Navy.

(1) A person under the appropriate minimum age shall not be entered for service in the Royal Navy unless consent to his being so entered has been given in writing—

(a) if he is living with both or one of his parents, by the parents or parent;

(b) if he is not living with both or one of his parents, but a person (whether a parent or not) whose whereabouts are known or can after reasonable inquiry be ascertained has parental rights and powers in respect of him, by that person ;

(c) if there is no such person as is mentioned in paragraph (b) above or if after reasonable inquiry it cannot be ascertained whether there is any such person, by any person in whose care (whether in law or in fact) he may be.

(2) Where an officer or other person authorised under regulations made by the Defence Council to enter persons for naval service is satisfied, by the production of a certified copy of an entry in the register of births or by any other evidence appearing to him to be sufficient, that a person offering himself to be entered for such service has or has not attained the appropriate minimum age, that person shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to have attained, or, as the case may be, not to have attained that age; and a document purporting to be a certificate signed by the said officer or other person stating that he is satisfied as aforesaid shall be evidence, until the contrary is proved, that he is so satisfied.

(3) In this section the expression " appropriate minimum age " means the age of seventeen years and six months, except that, in such classes of case as may be prescribed by regulations of the Defence Council, it means the age of seventeen years.