Police and Firemen (War Service) Act 1939
Police and Firemen (War Service) Act, 1939
(2 & 3 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 103.
An Act to make provision with respect to constables and firemen serving in His Majesty's forces during the period of the present emergency, to suspend the right of constables and firemen to retire on pension during that period, to provide that war injuries shall be deemed to be nonaccidental injuries for the purpose of enactments and other instruments relating to the pensions of constables and firemen, to amend section sixteen of the Fire Brigade Pensions Act, 1925, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[7th September 1939]
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Civil Remuneration and Superannuation.
1 Payments to make up amount of civil remuneration.
(1) Where during the period of the present emergency a person serving as a constable or fireman ceases so to serve in order to serve in His Majesty's forces, the appropriate authority shall have power to make to or in respect of him such payments as are hereafter in this section provided.
Any such person is hereafter in this Act referred to as a person to whom this section applies.
(2) While a person to whom this section applies is serving during the said period in His Majesty's forces, the appropriate authority may pay to him or to or for the benefit of his wife or other dependants nominated by him, a sum which shall not exceed the pay and allowances he would have received if he had continued to serve as a constable or fireman, after deducting therefrom the amount of his service pay.
(3) On any such person ceasing to serve in His Majesty's forces, the appropriate authority may, for such period as the authority may determine having regard to all the circumstances of the case, but not in any case expiring later than one year after the end of the period of the present emergency, pay to him or to or for the benefit of his wife or other dependants nominated by him, a sum not greater than the pay and allowances he would have received if he had been serving as a constable or fireman.
(4) Any payment made under this section to any person shall—
(a ) in the case of a constable, be made out of the fund out of which his pension would have been payable if he had continued to serve as a constable in the police force to which he belonged immediately before he ceased so to serve; and
(b ) in the case of a fireman, be made out of the fund out of which there are paid the expenses of the fire brigade to which he belonged immediately before he ceased to serve as a fireman.
2 Reckoning of war service for purposes of superannuation.
(1) For the purposes of the appropriate pension enactment—
(a ) any period for which a person to whom section one of this Act applies serves in His Majesty's forces during the period of the present emergency; and
(b ) any period for which payments are made to or in respect of any such person under subsection (3) of the said section one;
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 no period before any such person attains the minimum age for approved service under the appropriate pension enactment shall be treated as a period of approved service.
(2) For the purposes of sections nine and twenty of the Police Pensions Act, 1921 , and sections seven and eighteen of the Fire Brigade Pensions Act, 1925 (which relate to discontinuous service and to a return of rateable deductions on retirement), a person to whom section one of this Act applies shall be deemed to have retired from or left the police force or fire brigade to which he belonged immediately before he ceased to serve as a constable or fireman, if and when, but not before, he fails to resume service as a constable or fireman at the end of the period which by virtue of subsection (1) of this section is treated as a period of approved service in his case, or within such further time from the end of that period as the appropriate authority may fix with the approval of the Secretary of State.
3 Rateable deductions.
(1) For any period for which—
(a ) payments are made to or in respect of any person to whom section one of this Act applies under subsection (2) or subsection (3) of that section; or
(b ) the service pay of any such person is equal to or greater than the pay he would have received if he had continued to serve as a constable or fireman;
sums equal to the rateable deductions that would have been made from his pay under the appropriate pension enactment if he had continued to serve as a constable or fireman shall be payable by him to the appropriate authority at the time when the deductions would in that event have been made.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (b ) of the last foregoing subsection, the pay which any person would have received if he had continued to serve as a constable or fireman shall include—
(a ) such of the allowances which he would have received in that event as the Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe; and
(b ) in a case where, immediately before he ceased so to serve, he was in occupation of any premises by virtue of his service, the value of those premises assessed in such manner as may be so prescribed.
(3) The sums payable under subsection (1) of this section by a person to whom section one of this Act applies shall be recovered by the appropriate authority either—
(a ) by way of deduction from the sums which they are authorised under section one of this Act to pay to or in respect of him; or
(b ) if and so far as they are not recovered by way of deduction as aforesaid, as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction or by way of deduction from any grant payable to or in respect of him under the appropriate pension enactment or under that enactment as applied by this Act.
4 Grants in case of death or incapacity.
(1) If a person to whom section one of this Act applies (being a person who, in order to serve in His Majesty's forces, ceased to serve as a constable) dies either—
(a ) while serving in His Majesty's forces during the period of the present emergency; or
(b ) in consequence of wounds or disease received or contracted while so serving which prevented him from resuming his service as a constable,
the appropriate pension enactment shall apply in relation to him as if he—
(i) had been serving at the time of his death in the police force to which he belonged immediately before he ceased to serve as a constable; and
(ii) had died otherwise than from the effects of an injury received in the execution of his duty:
Provided that where by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this subsection a pension or allowance is payable to any person, the appropriate authority may increase the amount thereof up to such amount as they think fit, not exceeding the maximum amount hereafter provided.
(2) If a person to whom section one of this Act applies (being a person who, in order to serve in His Majesty's forces, ceased to serve as a fireman) dies either—
(a ) while serving in His Majesty's forces during the period of the present emergency; or
(b ) in consequence of wounds or disease received or contracted while so serving which prevented him from resuming his service as a fireman;
the appropriate authority may if they think fit pay—
(i) a pension to his widow;
(ii) allowances to his children under sixteen years of age until they severally reach the age of sixteen years;
(iii) a gratuity to any relative of his who has been wholly or mainly dependent upon him;
of an amount not exceeding the maximum amount hereafter provided, and subject to the provisions of this section the provisions of the appropriate pensions enactment shall apply to any pension, allowance or gratuity granted under this subsection as they apply to any pension, allowance or gratuity granted under that enactment.
(3) If a person to whom section one of this Act applies, after ceasing to serve in His Majesty's forces, is prevented, in consequence of wounds or disease received or contracted while so serving, from resuming his service as a constable or fireman, the appropriate pension enactment shall apply in relation to him as if he—
(a ) had become, while serving as a constable or fireman in the police force or fire brigade to which he belonged immediately before he ceased to serve as a constable or fireman, incapacitated for the performance of his duty by infirmity of mind or body otherwise than in consequence of an injury received in the execution of his duty; and
(b ) had retired on a medical certificate, at the time when he ceased to serve in His Majesty's forces, from that police force or fire brigade:
Provided that—
(i) where by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this subsection a gratuity is payable to any such person, the appropriate authority may, if they think fit, in lieu of paying him a gratuity, pay to him, under and subject to the provisions of the appropriate pension enactment, a pension of an amount not less than...
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