Friendly Societies Act 1955
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1955 c. 19 |
| Year | 1955 |
Friendly Societies Act , 1955
(4 & 5 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 19
An Act to extend the powers of friendly societies, and amend the Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 to 1948; to make corresponding amendments for trade unions in relation to sums payable on the death of a member; to make provision with respect to the furnishing of information by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance in connection with claims for benefit from friendly societies and trade unions; and for purposes connected therewith.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lord Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Power of society to lend surplus funds to society of different description.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this and the next following section, a registered society or branch (other than a benevolent society or branch thereof) may, if its rules so provide, make advances by way of loan to a registered society or registered branch of a society which is not of the same description, and may take such part in the government and control of the society or branch to which any such advance is made or agreed to be made as may be provided by the rules of that society or branch.
(2) An advance shall not be made by a society or branch by virtue of this section, unless the value of its assets showed a surplus over the amount of its liabilities according to the last valuation under section twenty-eight of the principal Act or, in the case of a society or branch of which the assets and liabilities are not valued under that section, according to its last annual return under section twenty-seven of the principal Act; and—
(a ) no advance shall be so made to an amount greater, with any amounts outstanding in respect of previous advances so made, than the amount for the time being unapplied of that surplus;
(b ) for any purpose other than the purposes of the foregoing paragraph, in determining the amount so unapplied there shall be deducted any amounts outstanding in respect of advances so made after the date to which the valuation or return relates.
(3) An advance under this section may be interest free.
(4) Where a society or branch (in this subsection referred to as ‘the lender’) has made or agreed to make advances under this section to another society or branch (in this subsection referred to as ‘the borrower’), and the lender is by reason thereof empowered by the rules of the borrower to take part in the government or control of the borrower, section sixty-eight of the principal Act shall apply in relation to the determination of any dispute between the lender and the borrower, being a dispute relating to any such advance or agreement or to the rights of the lender or an officer thereof under the rules of the borrower, as if the borrower were a branch of the lender:
Provided that—
(a ) references in the said section sixty-eight to the rules of the society or branch shall mean the rules of the borrower;
(b ) subsection (1) of the section shall not prevent the bringing of legal proceedings for the determination of any such dispute, unless before the commencement of the proceedings application has been made for a reference under those rules, and any such proceedings may be brought in a county court, whether or not the court would apart from this provision have jurisdiction to entertain them;
(c ) no application under subsection (6) of the section for the determination of any such dispute shall be made to a court of summary jurisdiction.
(5) Nothing in this section shall be taken to prejudice the power of a society or branch under section twenty-two of the principal Act to contribute to the funds and take part in the management of another society or branch of the same description.
(6) For the purposes of this section a society or branch shall be deemed to be of the same description as another society or branch if, but only if, they are both registered by virtue of the same paragraph of section eight of the principal Act and, where each of them is a specially authorised society or branch, they are both established for the same purpose or purposes.
2 Power of friendly society to invest in housing association.
(1) In section forty-four of the principal Act (which relates to the manner in which the funds of registered societies and branches may be invested) the following paragraph shall be added at the end of subsection (1):—
‘or
(g ) in the case of a friendly society or branch of which the rules expressly so direct, in subscribing up to any amount permitted by the Friendly Societies Act, 1955, for any of the share or loan capital of a housing association, other than shares or debentures not fully paid up at the time of issue.’
(2) The power to make investments conferred by this section shall be subject to the same restrictions as are imposed by subsection (2) of the foregoing section on the power to make advances conferred by that section.
(3) For the purposes of the said subsection (2) any amounts for the time being invested by virtue of this section shall be taken into account in the same way as amounts outstanding in respect of advances made by virtue of the foregoing section:
Provided that the amounts invested shall be taken to be amounts equal to the value of the investments according to the valuation or return referred to in the said subsection (2), except in the case of investments made after the date to which the valuation or return relates.
(4) For the purposes of this section, ‘housing association’ means a housing association within the meaning of the Housing Act, 1936, or the Housing (Scotland) Act, 1950 (but not including a development corporation).
3 Extension of purposes of friendly societies.
(1) Paragraph (1) of section eight of the principal Act (which defines the purposes for which societies to be registered as friendly societies may be formed) shall be amended as follows—
(a ) in sub-paragraph (c ) (under which those purposes include the relief or maintenance of the members when on travel in search of employment) for the words ‘when on travel in search of employment’ there shall be substituted the words ‘when out of employment’; and
(b ) in sub-paragraph (d ) (under which those purposes include the endowment of members or nominees of members at any age) after the words ‘at any age’ there shall be inserted the words ‘or on marriage’.
(2) For the purpose of calculating the maximum sum which may be insured or paid under section sixty-two of the principal Act or under section one of the Industrial Assurance and Friendly Societies Act, 1929 (which, like the sections referred to below, of section four of the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923, shall not apply as respects any such repayment.
(3) At the end of the definitions of ‘endowment policy’ in subsection (2) of section five of the Industrial Assurance and Friendly Societies Act, 1929, and in subsection (6) of section fifty-six of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act, 1951, there shall be added the words ‘and either with or...
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