National Service Act 1948

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved


National Service Act, 1948.

(11 & 12 Geo. 6.) 64.

An Act to consolidate the National Service Acts, 1939 to 1947, and the Reinstatement in Civil Employment Act, 1944, so far as that Act applies to persons called up for national service after the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred and forty-eight.

[30th July 1948]

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:—

I Service in the Armed Forces.

Part I.

Service in the Armed Forces.

Liability for service in the armed forces.

Liability for service in the armed forces.

S-1 Liability to called up for service.

1 Liability to called up for service.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, every male British subject ordinarily resident in Great Britain who has attained the age of eighteen years and has not attained the age of twenty-six years and is not a person mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act shall be liable to be called upon to serve in the armed forces of the Crown for two terms of service, that is to say—

(a ) a term of whole-time service in the regular forces; and

(b ) a term of part-time service in an auxiliary force in accordance with this section.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the term of whole-time service for which a person shall be liable to be called up under this Part of this Act shall be a period of twelve months beginning with the day on which he is required by an enlistment notice served under section nine of this Act to present himself to the authority specified therein and ending when his term of whole-time service is completed in accordance with the provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act:

Provided that His Majesty may by Order in Council appoint a period shorter than twelve months as the term of whole-time service for which a person shall be liable to be called up as aforesaid.

(3) On the day next after that on which the term of a person's whole-time service is completed he shall, subject to the provisions of the next following section, be deemed—

(a ) if his last service during that term was in the royal navy or the royal marines, to be entered for service in a royal naval special reserve which the Admiralty shall raise and maintain for the purposes of this Part of this Act; or

(b ) if that last service was in the regular army, to be enlisted for service in the territorial army or the army reserve, as the Army Council may direct; or

(c ) if that last service was in the regular air force, to be enlisted for service in the air force reserve;

for a term of part-time service ending with the expiration of the seventh year after the beginning of his term of whole-time service; so, however, that the end of a person's part-time service shall be postponed by any period by which the term of his whole-time service was extended by virtue of proviso (b ) to paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to this Act.

S-2 Volunteer service in lieu of part-time service.

2 Volunteer service in lieu of part-time service.

(1) If, during his whole-time service, any person is accepted by a Service Authority as a volunteer for service in the royal naval reserve, the royal naval volunteer reserve, the royal marine forces volunteer reserve, the territorial army, the army reserve, the royal air force volunteer reserve or the royal auxiliary air force, and enters into an engagement whereby he will, on the day next after that on which his term of whole-time service is completed, be entered or enlisted in one of those auxiliary forces as a volunteer for a term not less than the term of part-time service which he would otherwise be required to serve under this Part of this Act, he shall be entered or enlisted in accordance with that engagement and shall not be deemed to be entered or enlisted in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of the foregoing section.

(2) A person who is entered or enlisted for service as a volunteer in one of the forces aforesaid in accordance with the provisions of this section shall perform the service required of members of that force in lieu of the part-time service required by this Part of this Act.

S-3 Transfer.

3 Transfer.

3. The Service Authorities shall by regulations make provision for enabling or requiring a person serving in any auxiliary force during his part-time service, or during service performed in lieu thereof, to be transferred to any other auxiliary force; so, however, that such regulations shall not provide for the transfer of any person to the royal naval reserve, the royal naval volunteer reserve, the royal marine forces volunteer reserve, the royal air force volunteer reserve or the royal auxiliary air force except at his own request.

Training during part-time service.

Training during part-time service.

S-4 Length of training during part-time service.

4 Length of training during part-time service.

(1) During his term of part-time service a person may be required to undergo training for any periods not exceeding in the aggregate—

(a ) sixty days during the whole of his term of part-time service;

(b ) twenty-one days in any year of that service.

(2) The Service Authorities shall by regulations make provision for defining what constitutes a day's training for the purposes of this Part of this Act; and any such regulations may in particular allow, with such limitations as may be prescribed, hourly periods of instruction to be aggregated so that four such periods may be reckoned as a day's training.

S-5 Summoning for training during part-time service.

5 Summoning for training during part-time service.

(1) The Service Authority may cause to be served on any person during his term of part-time service a training notice which shall state that he is summoned for training and the period for which he is summoned and shall require him to present himself at such place and time on such day (not earlier than the thirtieth day after the date of the service of the notice), and to such authority, as may be specified in the notice.

(2) Where a training notice has been served on any person, the Service Authority may at any time before the day on which he is thereby required to present himself cause to be served on him a supplementary notice varying the training notice by altering the place or time at which, but not the date on which, he is thereby required to present himself.

(3) Every training notice served otherwise than by registered post shall require the person upon whom it is served to acknowledge receipt thereof within such time as may be specified in the requirement; and if acknowledgment is not received, the Service Authority may cause a further training notice to be served on him by registered post and may by that notice direct that the former notice shall be deemed never to have had effect.

(4) A person who fails to comply with a training notice shall be liable to be apprehended and unless he has some reasonable excuse punished in the same manner as a person belonging to an auxiliary force failing to appear when called into actual or permanent service or on embodiment so, however, that the maximum punishment that may be awarded in respect of any such offence shall be, in the case of a person convicted by a court of summary jurisdiction, a fine of twenty-five pounds, and in any other case detention or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.

(5) If at any time during a person's term of part-time service any change occurs in his name or address, he shall forthwith notify the change to such person and in such manner as may be notified to him under regulations of the Service Authority; and if he fails to do so, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Part of this Act.

(6) A person shall not during his term of part-time service be required to perform any duty under this Part of this Act so long as he is not ordinarily resident in Great Britain or is a person specified in the First Schedule to this Act; and where by virtue of this subsection any person upon whom a training notice is served under this section is not, on the day on which he is thereby required to present himself, liable to perform any duty under this Part of this Act, he shall, for the purposes of that notice, be deemed not to have been liable to perform any such duty at the date of the service of the notice.

Procedure for calling up for service in armed forces.

Procedure for calling up for service in armed forces.

S-6 Persons required to register.

6 Persons required to register.

(1) The Minister may from time to time by public notice require male persons who have attained such age as may be specified in the notice (not being less than seventeen years and eight months), being persons who if they had attained the age of eighteen would have become liable under this Part of this Act to be called up for service in the armed forces of the Crown, to be registered for such service under this Part of this Act.

(2) Subject to the provisions of section ten of this Act, references in this Part of this Act to persons subject to registration shall be construed as references to all persons, including persons who have been registered, who for the time being are liable under this Part of this Act to be called up for service or who, having been required to be registered by virtue of a notice under this section, would for the time being be liable to be so called up if they had attained the age of eighteen.

S-7 Registration.

7 Registration.

(1) The Minister may make regulations requiring persons who become subject to registration—

(a ) to furnish, at such place and time, in such manner, and to such authority or...

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