Miners' Welfare Act 1952
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1952 c. 23 |
| Year | 1952 |
Miners' Welfare Act , 1952
(15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 23
An Act to discontinue the royalties welfare levy, dissolve the Miners' Welfare Commission and wind up the miners' welfare fund; to provide for the determination of certain trusts and agreements relating to property derived from the said fund, for the transfer to the National Coal Board or the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation of certain property, rights, liabilities, obligations and functions, and for requiring the said Board to make certain payments to the said organisation; to provide for the superannuation of employees of the said organisation; to amend section forty-one of the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act, 1946; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[30th April 1952]
Be it enacted by the Queen'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:—
1 Cessation of royalties levy and dissolution of Commission.
(1) Section fourteen of the Mining Industry Act, 1926 (which provides for the payment of the royalties welfare levy) shall be deemed to have ceased to have effect at the expiration of the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-two.
(2) The Miners' Welfare Commission constituted under section two of the Mining Industry (Welfare Fund) Act, 1939 (in this Act referred to as the Commission) shall be dissolved on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-two (in this Act referred to as the appointed day); and all property, rights, liabilities, obligations and functions vested in the Commission or to which the Commission are entitled or subject immediately before that day shall be transferred and dealt with in accordance with the following provisions of this Act.
2 Winding up of miners' welfare fund.
(1) The miners' welfare fund constituted under section twenty of the Mining Industry Act, 1920 (in this section referred to as the fund) shall be wound up in accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(2) The accounts of the fund required by subsection (7) of the said section twenty and subsection (2) of section sixteen of the Mining Industry Act, 1926 to be prepared in respect of the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fifty-two shall include an account of the receipts into and issues out of the fund in the period from the end of that year to the appointed day; and for the purposes of that account the sums appropriated out of proceeds of the output levy for the year nineteen hundred and fifty-one for purposes for which proceeds of the royalties welfare levy were required to be appropriated shall be ascertained in such manner as appears to the Minister to be appropriate having regard to the winding up of the fund and the cessation of the royalties welfare levy.
(3) The cash and investments held in the fund immediately before the appointed day, and all sums received by the Minister on or after that day in respect of interest on investments so held at any time before that day, shall be divided between the Board and the Social Welfare Organisation in the proportion which the welfare levy balance (as defined by this section) bears to the output levy balance (as so defined); and such cash, investments and sums shall be transferred accordingly to the Board or the said Organisation in accordance with such scheme of distribution as may be agreed upon between them or in default of agreement in such manner as the Minister may direct.
(4) Any sums due to the fund in respect of the royalties welfare levy or the output levy and not paid before the appointed day shall be payable to the Minister and shall be transferred by him—
(a ) in the case of sums paid on account of the royalties welfare levy, to the Board; and
(b ) in the case of sums paid on account of the output levy, as to one half each to the Board and the Social Welfare Organisation.
(5) In this section ‘the welfare levy balance’ means the balance of cash and investments (at cost) shown in the accounts mentioned in subsection (2) of this section as held in the fund immediately before the appointed day on account of the royalties welfare levy, including the sums appropriated out of proceeds of the output levy for purposes for which proceeds of the royalties welfare levy were required to be appropriated; and ‘the output levy balance’ means the balance of cash and investments (at cost) shown as aforesaid as held in the fund immediately before that day on account of the output levy after deduction of the sums appropriated as aforesaid.
3 Definition of colliery welfare property.
(1) In this Act ‘colliery welfare property’ means property representing an application of moneys standing to the credit of the miners' welfare fund, being property used for purposes conducive to the welfare of persons employed in or about coal mines in matters affecting their employment as such, and in particular—
(a ) includes property representing such an application which is used for purposes described in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act;
(b ) does not include property which is used for purposes described in Part II of that Schedule.
(2) In determining for the purposes of this section whether any property representing an application of such moneys as aforesaid is colliery welfare property—
(a ) no account shall be taken of the occasional use of any building or other land for a purpose different from the purpose for which it is normally used, or of any use of a part of any building for a purpose different from the main purpose or purposes for which the building as a whole is used;
(b ) any building or other land which is for the time being let, and any investments or money, shall be treated as used for the purposes for which the rents, profits, dividends or interest are applied; and
(c ) any property which is not for the time being used for any purpose shall be treated as used for the purposes prescribed by any trust or agreement to which it is subject, or, where more than one purpose is so prescribed, for the main or primary purpose so prescribed.
(3) In this Act ‘property representing an application of moneys standing to the credit of the miners' welfare fund’ means moneys allocated from that fund, property purchased out of such moneys or resulting from the conversion of property so purchased, and property resulting from the carrying on of any undertaking established in pursuance of any trusts or agreement relating to such moneys or property as aforesaid.
(4) The provisions of this Act shall apply to, and to any equipment provided for use in, any building which, if constructed or completed and used for the purpose for which it is designed, would be colliery welfare property, and to any rights, liabilities or obligations of the Commission under any contract for the construction of such a building, or any contract relating to any such equipment, as if the building or equipment were colliery welfare property.
4 Colliery welfare trusts and agreements.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, all colliery welfare trusts shall be determined on the appointed day, and there shall be transferred to the Board on that day:—
(a ) all property which immediately before that day is held by trustees upon such trusts or by a management committee constituted thereunder;
(b ) all rights, liabilities and obligations to which such trustees or any such management committee are entitled or subject immediately before that day, being rights, liabilities or obligations acquired or incurred for the purposes of the trusts or of managing or carrying on any property subject thereto or any undertaking established thereunder and not extinguished by virtue of the determination of the trusts.
(2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall apply in relation to any colliery welfare agreement, being an agreement made or having effect as if made between the Commission and the Board, whether with or without other parties, as they apply in relation to colliery welfare trusts, and as if references to trustees and to property held by trustees upon such trusts included references to the Commission and to property vested in the Commission under any such agreement; and all other colliery welfare property vested in the Commission immediately before the appointed day, and all other rights, liabilities, obligations and functions of the Commission in respect of colliery welfare property or under any colliery welfare agreement shall be transferred to the Board on the appointed day.
(3) In this Act ‘colliery welfare trusts’ means trusts of property consisting—
(a ) of colliery welfare property only; or
(b ) of colliery welfare property and other property where the value of the colliery welfare property substantially exceeds the value of that other property;
and ‘colliery welfare agreement’ means an agreement made or having effect as if made between the Commission and any other party in respect of such property as aforesaid.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting any trust or agreement so far as it relates to property representing an application of moneys standing to the credit of the miners' welfare fund, not being colliery welfare property, or any rights, liabilities or functions in respect of such property; and no account shall be taken of such property for the purposes of subsection (3) of this section.
5 Colliery welfare property excepted form transfer.
(1) If in the case of any colliery welfare trusts or colliery welfare agreement the property held immediately before...
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