The Water Officers (Compensation) Regulations 1964

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say:—

“accrued pension” in relation to a pensionable officer who has suffered loss of employment, means—

(a)

if the pension scheme to which the officer was last subject before losing his employment provided benefits in which he had no right to participate but had reasonable expectations of participating, such portion of any pension benefit of which he had reasonable expectations as the compensating authority considers equitable, having regard to his age, the length of his employment at the date of loss and all the other circumstances of the case; and

(b)

in any other case the pension to which he would have become entitled in respect of his pensionable service according to the method of calculation (modified where necessary in accordance with regulation 23(2) of these regulations) prescribed by the pension scheme to which he was last subject before suffering loss of employment if at the date on which he ceased to be subject thereto he had attained normal retiring age and complied with any requirement of the said scheme as to a minimum period of qualifying service or contribution and completed any additional contributory payments or payments in respect of added years which he was in the course of making;

“accrued retiring allowance” in relation to a pensionable officer who has suffered loss of employment, means—

(a)

if the pension scheme to which the officer was last subject before losing his employment provided benefits in which he had no right to participate, but had reasonable expectations of participating, such portion of any lump sum payment of which he had reasonable expectations as the compensating authority consider equitable, having regard to his age, the length of his employment at the date of loss and all the other circumstances of the case; and

(b)

in any other case any lump sum payment to which he would have become entitled in respect of his pensionable service according to the method of calculation (modified where necessary in accordance with regulation 23(2) of these regulations) prescribed by the pension scheme to which he was last subject before suffering loss of employment if at the date on which he ceased to be subject thereto he had attained normal retiring age and complied with any requirement of the said scheme as to a minimum period of qualifying service or contribution and completed any additional contributory payments or payments in respect of added years which he was in the course of making;

“accrued incapacity pension” and “accrued incapacity retiring allowance” have the same respective meanings as “accrued pension” and “accrued retiring allowance” except that the reference to a person's having attained normal retiring age shall be construed as a reference to his having become incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of his employment by reason of permanent ill-health or infirmity of mind or body;

“the Act” means the Water Officers Compensation Act 1960;

“the Act of 1945” means the Water Act 1945;

“added years” in relation to a person who suffers loss of employment means—

(a)

in the case of a contributory employee or local Act contributor any additional years of service reckonable by him in his employment immediately prior to the loss in question under regulation 12 of the Local Government Superannuation (Benefits) Regulations 1954(1), any corresponding provision of a local Act scheme, or that regulation or any such provision as aforesaid as applied by regulations made under Schedule 3 or Schedule 4 to the Local Government Superannuation Act 1953, and includes any additional years of service which, having been granted under any such provision or under any similar provision contained in any other enactment or scheme, have subsequently become and are reckonable under or by virtue of rules made under section 2 of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948, or any other enactment; and

(b)

in the case of any person employed by statutory water undertakers, any additional years of service of the nature of additional years of service referred to in paragraph (a) of this definition which can become reckonable in his employment with such undertakers;

“additional contributory payments” means—

(a)

additional contributory payments of the kind referred to in section 2(3) and (4) of the Local Government Superannuation Act 1953; or

(b)

any similar payments made under a local Act scheme as a condition of reckoning any period of employment as service or as a period of contribution for the purposes of the scheme, or, where the scheme provides for the reckoning of non-contributing service, as contributing service for the purposes of the scheme; or

(c)

any payments made for the purpose of increasing the length at which any period of service or of contribution would be reckonable for the purpose of calculating a benefit under a local Act scheme; or

(d)

any payments similar to any of those mentioned in the foregoing sub-paragraphs made in pursuance of rules under section 2 of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948, or in pursuance of any arrangements in that behalf made by statutory water undertakers;

“compensating authority” in relation to any person or class of persons who suffer loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments attributable to any order made under the Act of 1945 or to anything done in pursuance of such an order, means the statutory water undertakers specified in such order as the compensating authority for the purposes of the application of these regulations to that person or class of persons;

“contributory employee” and “local Act contributor” have the same meanings as in the Local Government Superannuation Act 1937;

“emoluments” means all salary, wages, fees and other payments paid or made to an officer as such for his own use, and includes the money value of any apartments, rations or other allowances in kind appertaining to his employment, but does not include payments for overtime, other than payments which are a usual incident of his employment, or any allowances payable to him to cover the cost of providing office accommodation or clerical or other assistance, or any travelling or subsistence allowance or other moneys to be spent, or to cover expenses incurred by him, for the purposes of his employment; and

“net emoluments” means—

(a)

in relation to an employment which has been lost or in which an officer has suffered a diminution of emoluments, the annual rate of the emoluments of that employment immediately before such loss or diminution, less such part of those emoluments as the officer was then liable to contribute under any pension scheme associated with his employment, except any periodical sum payable in respect of additional contributory payments; and

(b)

in relation to any other employment, the annual rate of the emoluments of that employment at the time in question, less such part of those emoluments as the officer was then liable to contribute under any pension scheme associated with his employment:

Provided that where fees were paid to a person as part of his emoluments during any year prior to that immediately preceding the loss or diminution, the amount in respect of fees to be included in the annual rate of emoluments mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) hereof shall be the annual average of the fees paid to him during the period of five years immediately preceding the loss or diminution, or such shorter period, as may be reasonable in the circumstances;

“local authority” means the council of a county, county borough, county district, rural parish or borough included in a rural district and includes the council of the Isles of Scilly and any two or more of those authorities acting jointly and any joint committee, combined authority or joint board;

“long-term compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of Part IV of these regulations for loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments ;

“material date” in relation to any person or class of persons who suffer loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments attributable to any order made under the Act of 1945 or to anything done in pursuance of such an order means the date on which the order was made, or such other date or dates as may be specified in the order in relation to him for all or any of the purposes of these regulations;

“minimum pensionable age” means, in relation to a pensionable officer, the earliest age at which, under the pension scheme associated with the employment he has lost or the emoluments of which have been diminished, he could have become entitled to a pension other than a pension payable in consequence of his incapacity to discharge efficiently the duties of his employment by reason of permanent ill-health or infirmity of mind or body;

“Minister” means the Minister of Housing and Local Government;

“national service” means service which is relevant service within the meaning of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951, and includes service immediately following such service as aforesaid, being service in any of Her Majesty's naval, military or air forces pursuant to a voluntary engagement entered into with the consent—

(a)

in the case of a person whose last relevant employment was as a justices' clerk, of the authority by whom he was appointed, or

(b)

in the case of any other person, of the authority or person under whom he held his last relevant employment;

“normal retiring age” means, in the case of a pensionable officer to whom an age of compulsory retirement applied by virtue of any pension scheme to which he was subject in the employment he has lost or the emoluments of which have been diminished or by virtue of the conditions of that employment, that age, and, in any other case, the age of sixty-five years if the officer is a male, or sixty years if the officer is a female;

“office” means any place, situation or employment other than that of director of a company , and the expression “officer” shall be construed accordingly;

“pensionable officer” in relation to an officer who has suffered loss of employment, or loss or diminution of emoluments, means an officer who immediately before such loss or diminution was subject to a pension scheme;

“pension scheme” means a scheme for the payment of superannuation benefits to a person as part of the terms and conditions of any employment held by him;

“reckonable service” in relation to a person means any period of whole-time or part-time employment in any relevant employment and includes any period of war service or national service undertaken on the person's ceasing to hold any such employment but does not include employment of which account has been taken, or is required to be taken, in calculating the amount of any superannuation benefit to which the person has become entitled;

“relevant employment” means employment—

(a)

under the Crown or in the service of a local authority or statutory water undertakers in Great Britain, or

(b)

by any authority or body for the purposes of the Crown or of local government, or of a statutory water undertaking in Great Britain, or

(c)

under any officer employed as mentioned in either of the foregoing paragraphs of this definition for the purposes of the functions of the employing authority or body, or

(d)

as a superintendent registrar, deputy superintendent registrar, registrar of births and deaths, deputy registrar of births and deaths, registrar of marriages appointed under section 7 of the Registration Service Act 1953, or under any such officer for the purposes of his functions as such officer, or

(e)

preceding any of the foregoing employments which was reckonable for the purposes of any pension scheme associated with the employment which has been lost, or

(f)

in such other service as the Minister may, in the case of any named officer, approve;

“resettlement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with Part III of these regulations for loss of employment suffered by a person to whom these regulations apply;

“retirement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of regulation 18, 19, 20 or 21 of these regulations;

“statutory water undertakers” has the same meaning as in the Act of 1945;

“tribunal” means a referee or board of referees appointed by the Minister of Labour after consultation with the Lord Chancellor;

“war service” means war service within the meaning of the Local Government Staffs (War Service) Act 1939, the Teachers Superannuation (War Service) Act 1939, the Police and Firemen (War Service) Act 1939 or employment for war purposes within the meaning of the Superannuation Schemes (War Service) Act 1940 and includes any period of service in the First World War in the armed forces of the Crown or in the forces of the Allied or Associated Powers if such service immediately followed a period of relevant employment and was undertaken either compulsorily or with the permission of the employer in that employment.

(2) Where under any provision of these regulations an annual value is to be assigned to a capital sum or a capital value to an annual amount, the annual or capital value shall be ascertained in accordance with tables for the time being approved by the Minister for the purpose of these regulations.

(3) Unless the context otherwise requires, references in these regulations to the provisions of any enactment, rule, regulation, order or scheme shall be construed as references to those provisions as amended or re-enacted by any subsequent enactment, rule, regulation, order or scheme.

(4) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply to the interpretation of these regulations as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

(1)

(1954 II, p. 1595).