Police and Firemen (War Service) Act 1944

3 Presumption of death of persons serving in forces

(1) For the purposes of the following provisions of the principal Act, namely—

(a) subsection (2) of section one (which authorises the supplementation of the pay of persons to whom that section applies while serving in His Majesty's forces) ;

(b) subsection (1) of section two (which provides that a period for which any such person serves in His Majesty's forces is to be treated for the purpose of the appropriate pension enactment as a period of approved service) ; and

(c) subsections (1) and (2) of section four (which provide for the grant of pensions, allowances and gratuities in respect of the death of any such person while serving in His Majesty's forces) ;

the question whether any such person has died while serving in His Majesty's forces shall be determined in accordance with the following rules :—

(i) no such person shall- be treated as having died while serving in those forces unless and until the appropriate authority are satisfied that he has been officially reported as dead or as missing ;

(ii) where the appropriate authority are satisfied that any such person has been officially reported as dead, or as missing and presumed dead, he shall be treated as having died while serving in those forces unless and until the authority are satisfied that he has subsequently been officially reported as alive ;

(iii) subject to the last foregoing paragraph, where the appropriate authority are satisfied that any such person has been officially reported as missing, the authority may, if they think fit, treat him as having died while serving in those forces unless and until they are satisfied that he has subsequently been officially reported as alive.

(2) Where the appropriate authority determine in accordance with the foregoing rules that any such person is to be treated as having died, the date of his death shall be taken to be such date as the authority may fix on the evidence available to them ; but any sums paid to or in respect of him under subsection (2) of section one of the principal Act for a period after the date of his death as so fixed shall be irrecoverable, and no pension or allowance shall be payable for any period for which such sums are paid.

(3) Where by virtue of the foregoing rules the appropriate authority determine that any person is to be treated as having died and subsequently determine that he is to be treated as being alive—

(a) any pension, allowance or gratuity paid by virtue of the first determination shall be irrecoverable; and

(b) no payments shall be made to or in respect of him under subsection (2) of section one of the principal Act for the period between the two determinations in excess of the difference between the aggregate amount of the payments which might have been so made if he had been treated as alive during the said period and the aggregate amount of all pensions, allowances and gratuities paid by virtue of the first determination ; and

(c) the said period shall be treated as a period of approved service in the police force or fire brigade to which he belonged immediately before he ceased to serve as a constable or fireman in order to serve in His Majesty's forces :

Provided that, where a gratuity has been paid to any person as his wife or dependant by virtue of the first determination, the appropriate authority may, if and to such extent-as they think fit, treat the gratuity as having been paid on account of any gratuity, pension or allowance that may subsequently become payable in respect of his death to that person.

(4) Where before the commencement of this Act the appropriate authority have determined that a person to whom section One of the principal Act applies is to be treated as having died while serving in His Majesty's forces, nothing in this section shall require them to revise that determination unless and until they are satisfied that he has been officially reported as alive.

(5) In this section the expression " officially reported " means reported (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) by or on behalf of the Admiralty, the Army Council or the Air Council.