Government Annuities Act 1929
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1929 c. 29 |
| Year | 1929 |
Government Annuities Act, 1929,
(19 & 20 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 29.
An Act to consolidate the Government Annuities Acts, 1829 to 1888, and the enactments amending those Acts.
[10th May 1929]
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:—
Part I.
Government Annuities.
1 Power to grant annuities.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the National Debt Commissioners (in this Act referred to as the Commissioners), may grant—
(a ) immediate or deferred life annuities, that is to say, annuities depending on a single life, or on two joint lives and the life of the survivor, or on the joint continuance of two lives:
(b ) immediate or deferred annuities for years, that is to say, annuities to continue for a certain limited term of years:
Provided that no deferred annuity for years shall be granted to commence after the death of any specified person.
(2) The Commissioners may refuse to grant any annuity under this Part of this Act in any case where there are, in the opinion of the Commissioners, sufficient grounds for refusing so to do.
2 Consideration for annuities.
(1) The Commissioners may accept as consideration for an annuity—
(a ) the transfer of any amount, not less than one hundred pounds, of Government stock; or
(b ) the transfer of any amount of annuities for a certain term of years, payable as part of the permanent annual charge for the National Debt, or the payment of money, in each case equal in value to not less than one hundred pounds of consolidated stock; or
(c ) in the case of a deferred life annuity, the payment in money of a sum not less than five pounds a year payable at such time or times in each year and subject to such regulations as the Commissioners may direct:
Provided that, where the annuity is a further annuity granted to the same person who purchased a former annuity, and depending on the same life or lives, the consideration may be any amount not less than twenty pounds of Government stock, or the equivalent of twenty pounds of consolidated stock in terminable annuities or money.
(2) Transfers of stock and annuities and payment of money for the purchase of annuities shall be accepted at such days and times only as the Commissioners may by notice in the London Gazette appoint for the purpose.
(3) For the purposes of this Act the expression ‘Government stock’ means stock, annuities and securities of the following classes (not being stock, annuities or securities registered in the Post Office Register), that is to say:—
(a ) two and a half per cent. consolidated stock within the meaning of the National Debt (Conversion) Act, 1888 (in this Act referred to as consolidated stock);
(b ) perpetual annuities payable as part of the permanent annual charge for the National Debt;
(c ) any securities (in this Act referred to as war securities) issued under the War Loan Acts, 1914 to 1919.
3 Conditions as to nominee.
3. A person purchasing a life annuity may nominate himself or any other person as a person on whose life the annuity is to depend (in this Part of this Act referred to as a nominee), so, however, that a nominee must be of the age of fifteen years or upwards at the time of nomination, and must, unless he is also the purchaser, or one of the purchasers, be a native of and usually resident within the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
4 Declarations, &c. required in respect of life annuities.
(1) Before any stock or annuities are transferred, or money is paid, to the Commissioners for the purchase of a life annuity, there shall be delivered to the Comptroller-General or other officer acting under the Commissioners a declaration signed by the person desirous of purchasing the annuity, or by a person on his behalf, stating the name of the person by whom or on whose behalf the annuity is to be purchased, the name of the nominee, or, as the case may be, the names of both the nominees, and such other particulars as the Commissioners may direct, and there shall also be produced to such officer such proof of age of the nominee or each nominee as may appear to the Commissioners to be satisfactory, and such declaration of identity, as is in this section mentioned:
Provided that, where any person proposed as a nominee is a person on whose life an annuity has previously been granted it shall not be necessary to produce further proof of the age of that person, but where the person desirous of purchasing the annuity is not the same as the person who purchased the previous annuity depending on the life of that nominee, a declaration as to the identity of the proposed nominee with the person on whose life the previous annuity was granted shall be produced to the Commissioners.
(2) The declaration of identity required shall be a declaration by the purchaser of the annuity or one of the purchasers, or by some person on his or their behalf, that the person named in the certificate of birth or baptism, or declaration as to age, tendered in proof of age is the person who is appointed to be nominee.
(3) Where a certificate of the baptism and not of the birth of any person is produced, the age of that person shall for the purposes of this Part of this Act be calculated as if he had been born on the date of baptism.
5 Declaration required in respect of annuities for years.
5. A person intending to purchase an annuity for years, or some person on his behalf, shall sign and produce to the Commissioners such a declaration of his intention as the Commissioners may approve.
6 Amount of annuity.
(1) The annuity to be granted shall be calculated and ascertained according to the age of the nominee, or the continuance of the term, as the case may be, and according to the average price of consolidated stock on the day preceding the date of the authority or certificate hereinafter mentioned.
(2) Where the consideration for the annuity is consolidated stock, the annuity shall be of such amount as the consolidated stock would purchase according to such tables approved by the Treasury under this Part of this Act as are for the time being in force.
(3) Where the consideration for the annuity consists of other Government stock or annuities or money, the stock, annuities or money shall first be converted into terms of consolidated stock, according, in the case of stock or annuities, to the average price thereof, to be ascertained as hereinafter mentioned, and the annuity shall be calculated with reference to the amount of consolidated stock produced by such conversion, and whenever the consideration is a sum of money, a charge of two shillings and sixpence shall be made for every entire one hundred pounds of consolidated stock produced by such conversion as aforesaid.
(4) Where the amount of the annuity so calculated produces a fraction less than fourpence, the fractional part of the annuity less than fourpence shall be omitted from the annuity.
(5) For the purposes of ascertaining the average price of stock and annuities according to which the amount of annuity to be granted under this Part of this Act is to be so calculated, the Bank of England shall on every day on which any Government stock or annuities have been bought at the Bank of England cause to be made out and transmitted to the Comptroller-General an account of the average price at which such stock and annuities have been bought on that day, and a copy of the account shall be put up in some conspicuous place in the office of the Comptroller-General, for the purpose of enabling persons to ascertain the price at which stock or annuities may be transferred or money laid out in the purchase of annuities.
(6) If no stock or annuities have been so bought on any day, the calculation shall be made in accordance with the average price of the stock or annuities on the nearest preceding day.
(7) The amount of every annuity shall be calculated and ascertained by the Comptroller-General or other officer acting under the Commissioners, and checked by the actuary or other check officer of the check branch in the office of the Commissioners.
7 Provisions as to payment of consideration.
(1) Where in the case of a life annuity the necessary proofs of age and identity have been produced and the amount of the annuity checked as aforesaid, the Comptroller-General or other officer of the Commissioners shall give to the purchaser of the annuity an authority for the Bank of England to accept the consideration for the annuity.
(2) Where in the case of an annuity for years the necessary declaration has been produced and the amount of the annuity checked as aforesaid, the Comptroller-General or other officer of the Commissioners shall grant a certificate to the purchaser, and transmit a duplicate of the certificate to the Bank of England, and shall also when the consideration consists of a money payment give to the purchaser an authority for the Bank of England to accept the payment.
(3) As soon as the transfer or payment of the consideration has been made in the case of a life annuity, the Commissioners shall give a receipt to the person by whom or on whose behalf the transfer or payment is made.
(4) As soon...
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