The Fire Services (Compensation) Regulations 1974

PART I PRELIMINARY

Title and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Fire Services (Compensation) Regulations 1974 and shall come into operation on 1st April 1974.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

“the Act” means the Local Government Act 1972;

“age of compulsory retirement” means, in relation to a regular fireman, the age at which he would become liable to be required to retire on account of age under the Firemen's Pension Scheme;

“compensating authority” in relation to any person who suffers loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments as specified in Regulation 4, means the fire authority by whom he was last employed prior to the loss or diminution or, if that authority has ceased to exist, the authority to whom the residue of their property and liabilities has been transferred under the Act;

“compensation question” means a question arising under these Regulations—

(a)

as to a person's entitlement to compensation for loss of employment, or for loss or diminution of emoluments; or

(b)

as to the manner of a person's employment or the comparability of his duties;

“emoluments” has the meaning given by Regulation 36(1) and “annual rate of emoluments” has the meaning given by Regulation 36(3);

“enactment” means any Act or any instrument made under an Act;

“existing authority” has the meaning given by section 270(1) of the Act;

“Firemen's Pension Scheme” means the Scheme from time to time in force under section 26 of the Fire Services Act 1947;

“fund authority”, in relation to any person, means the authority maintaining the superannuation fund or account in relation to that person;

“instrument” includes an Order in Council, regulation, order, rule, scheme or direction;

“interchange rules” means rules made under section 2 of the Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948 (which provides for the pensions of persons transferring to different employment) and includes any similar instrument made, or having effect as if made, under any other Act which makes similar provision;

“local authority” means—

(a)

the council of a county, county borough, borough (whether or not included in a rural district) and an urban or rural district; a county council and a district council described in section 2 or 21 of the Act; a parish council, a community council; a parish meeting, a representative body of a parish and a common parish council;

(b)

the council of a metropolitan borough or London borough, the Common Council of the City of London, the Greater London Council and the council of the Isles of Scilly;

(c)

any burial board or joint burial board established under the Burial Acts 1852 to 1906;

(d)

any joint board or joint body constituted by or under any enactment for the purpose of exercising the functions of two or more authorities described in (a), (b) or (c) above;

(e)

any other authority or body, not specified in (a), (b), (c) or (d) above, established by or under any enactment for the purpose of exercising the functions of or advising one or more of the authorities specified in (a), (b), (c) or (d) above;

(f)

any committee (including a joint committee) established by or under any enactment for the purpose of exercising the functions of, or advising, two or more authorities described in (a), (b), (c) or (d) above;

(g)

any two or more authorities described in (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) or (f) above acting jointly or as a combined authority;

(h)

a police authority for a county, a borough or a combined area;

“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” means—

(a)

in relation to any person affected by any provision of the Act or the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973, 1st April 1974 or the date on which the loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments occurred, whichever is the earlier;>

(b)

in relation to a person affected by any provision of an instrument made under either of those Acts, the date on which the instrument was made or, if some other date is specified therein, that other date;

“national service”, in relation to any person, means compulsory national service and service which is relevant service within the meaning of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951 and any similar service immediately following such service entered into with the consent of the authority or person under whom he held his last relevant employment, or, where appropriate, the authority by whom he was appointed, and service otherwise than as a member of a fire brigade maintained under the Fire Services Act 1947 which is pensionable under the Firemen's Pension Scheme;

“pensionable pay” and “average pensionable pay” have the same meanings, respectively, as in the Firemen's Pension Scheme;

“pension scheme”, in relation to any person, means any form of arrangement associated with his employment for the payment of superannuation benefits, whether subsisting by virtue of an Act of Parliament, trust, contract or otherwise;

“pensionable service” has the same meaning as in the Firemen's Pension Scheme;

“reckonable service”, in relation to any 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 his ceasing to hold such an employment;

“regular fireman” means a member of a fire brigade of a class prescribed by the Firemen's Pension Scheme for the purposes of section 2 of the Fire Services Act 1951;

“relevant employment” means employment—

(a)

under the Crown or by any person, authority or body for the purposes of the Crown;

(b)

under any officer employed as mentioned in (a) above for the purposes of the functions of that person, authority or body;

(c)

by any person, authority or body specified in the Schedule to these Regulations;

(d)

preceding any of the foregoing employment which was reckonable for the purposes of the last relevant pension scheme; or

(e)

such other employment as the Secretary of State may, in the case of any named person, approve;

but, except for national service and war service, does not include service in the armed forces of the Crown;

“resettlement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with Part III of these Regulations for loss of employment;

“retirement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 19, 20 or 21;

“tribunal” means a tribunal established under section 12 of the Industrial Training Act 1964;

“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 Education (Scotland) (War Service Superannuation) 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 that service immediately followed a period of relevant employment and was undertaken either compulsorily or with the permission of the employer in that employment.

(2) The holder of any office, appointment, place, situation or employment shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be regarded as an officer employed in that office, appointment, place, situation or employment, and the expressions “officer” and “employment” shall be construed accordingly.

(3) 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 calculated by the Government Actuary.

(4) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to any enactment shall be construed as references thereto as amended, re-enacted, applied or modified by any subsequent enactment.

(5) References in these Regulations to a numbered Regulation shall, unless the reference is to a regulation of specified regulations, be construed as references to the Regulation bearing that number in these Regulations.

(6) References in any of these Regulations to a numbered paragraph shall, unless the reference is to a paragraph of a specified Regulation, be construed as references to the paragraph bearing that number in the first mentioned Regulation.

(7) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply for the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies for the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.