Post Office Act 1961
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1961 c. 15 |
Post Office Act, 1961
(9 & 10 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 15
An Act to reorganise the financial arrangements of the Post Office; to amend the Post Office Act, 1953, and the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
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:—
New financial Arrangements
1 Establishment of new Post Office Fund.
(1) There shall be established a fund, to be called the Post Office Fund (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘Fund’) which shall be under the management and control of the Postmaster General.
(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, all sums received by the Postmaster General shall, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, be paid by him into the Fund.
(3) Out of the Fund there shall be paid—
(a ) all sums paid by the Postmaster General in, or in connection with, the exercise of functions conferred on him by or under any enactment (including any enactment passed after the passing of this Act);
(b ) all sums paid by him in, or in connection with, the exercise of functions of his other than as aforesaid, being functions relating, directly or indirectly, to the following matters, namely,—
(i) postal matters,
(ii) the remitting of money,
(iii) telegraphs, telephones and (as defined by section nineteen of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949) wireless telegraphy, and
(iv) activities carried on by him as an agent (whether for a government department or for any other person whatsoever);
(c ) all sums paid by him in consequence of the carrying on by him of activities necessarily or properly carried on by him in connection with the exercise of such functions as are referred to in the foregoing paragraphs; and
(d ) such sums as, by the following provisions of this Act, are required to be paid by him.
(4) There shall be excepted from the operation of subsections (2) and (3) of this section—
(a ) sums provided by Parliament by way of grants to, or in aid of, the British Broadcasting Corporation,
(b ) sums so provided for the making by the Postmaster General, under section eleven of the Television Act, 1954, of grants to the Independent Television Authority,
(c ) sums directed by the Treasury to be applied as appropriations in aid of sums provided as mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs or for other purposes related to broadcasting, and
(d ) sums provided by Parliament for the payment, under the Ministers of the Crown Act, 1937, of the salaries of the Postmaster General and the Assistant Postmaster General.
(5) Subsection (3) of this section shall have effect in substitution for any enactment in so far as it provides or enables provision to be made for defraying out of moneys provided by Parliament expenses incurred by the Postmaster General, and any reference in any instrument having effect by virtue of any enactment to the making of payments by the Postmaster General out of moneys so provided shall be taken as a reference to the making of payments by him out of the Fund.
2 Contributions by Postmaster General in lieu of taxes, &c.
(1) The Postmaster General shall pay such sums at such times as may be agreed between him and the Treasury to be requisite to secure that, year by year, he contributes to the Exchequers of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as nearly as may be what he would contribute thereto by way of taxes, duties, fees and other imposts (except stamp duty) but for the exemptions which by law are enjoyed by him from liability thereto and from liability to comply with enactments compliance with which would involve the payment of imposts (with the exception aforesaid).
(2) The Postmaster General shall pay such sums at such times as may be agreed between him and the Treasury to be requisite to secure that, year by year, there is contributed to the Exchequers of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as nearly as may be what would be contributed thereto by way of stamp duty but for—
(a ) paragraph (9) of the list of exemptions set out, in the First Schedule to the Stamp Act, 1891, at the end of the heading ‘Bill of Exchange of any kind whatsoever (except a bank note) and Promissory Note of any kind whatsoever (except a bank note)’, in so far as that paragraph applies to a draft or order drawn by an officer of the Post Office;
(b ) paragraph (3) of the list of exemptions set out, in the said First Schedule, at the end of the heading ‘Receipt’, in so far as that paragraph applies to a receipt given for or upon the payment of money to the Postmaster General, other than a receipt given by an officer of the Post Office acknowledging the receipt by the Postmaster General of a sum of money paid by way of Parliamentary taxes or duties or for the use of Her Majesty, being a sum no part of which is retained by him;
(c ) section eighty-four of the Post Office Act, 1953 (which exempts from stamp duty every document made or executed for the purposes of the Post Office), except in so far as it applies to—
(i) a postal order within the meaning of that Act,
(ii) a draft or order drawn upon the Postmaster General by an officer of a public department other than the Post Office, and
(iii) a receipt acknowledging the receipt of the amount of a money order issued under that Act (whether or not indorsed or otherwise written on the order) or a receipt given by an officer of the Post Office acknowledging the receipt by the Postmaster General of a sum of money paid by way of Parliamentary taxes or duties or for the use of Her Majesty, being a sum no part of which is retained by him.
(3) Payments under this section shall, except in so far as it may be agreed between the Postmaster General and the Treasury that they shall be made to another government department or some other authority or person, be made into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2) of section twenty-two of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 (annual determination by Joint Exchequer Board of what part of the proceeds of reserved taxes is properly attributable to Northern Ireland), sums paid under this section (except sums which, by virtue of the last foregoing subsection, have been paid in Northern Ireland) shall be treated as being proceeds of the duties and taxes referred to in subsection (1) of that section.
3 Provisions as to broadcasting revenue and expenditure.
(1) Broadcast receiving licence revenue shall be treated as being collected by the Postmaster General for the benefit of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and accordingly he shall from time to time pay into that Exchequer the sums received by him by way of such revenue.
(2) There shall be paid into the Fund such sums as may from time to time be provided by Parliament for paying the Postmaster General for discharging his functions under the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949, and the Television Act, 1954, in so far as broadcasting is concerned or otherwise in relation to broadcasting.
(3) In this section ‘broadcast receiving licence revenue’ means—
(a ) revenue received by the Postmaster General by way of sums paid to him in respect of the issue, under section one of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949, of licences of a type which are designed primarily to authorise the reception of broadcast programmes; and
(b ) such proportion (if any) of the revenue received by him by way of sums paid to him in respect of the issue as aforesaid of licences of a type which, though authorising the reception of broadcast programmes, are primarily designed for a purpose other than such reception (not being licences authorising the relaying of broadcast programmes by wire) as may be agreed between the Postmaster General and the Treasury to be proper to be treated for the purposes of this section as broadcast receiving licence revenue.
Any reference in this subsection to the issue of a licence under the said section one shall be construed as including a reference to the renewal of a licence so issued, and any reference therein to revenue received by the Postmaster General in respect of the issue of licences of any type shall be construed as references to revenue so received after deducting the amount of any refunds thereof made by him with the consent of the Treasury.
4 Surrender of sums received by Postmaster General in lieu of fines.
4. The Postmaster General shall from time to time pay into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom the sums received by him under section seventy-three of the Post Office Act, 1953 (which enables him to accept fines incurred or alleged to be incurred without legal proceedings' being taken for the recovery thereof and to compromise and compound legal proceedings for the recovery of such fines) both as originally enacted and as applied by subsection (5) of section fourteen of the Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1949, and the sums received by him under section thirty-five of the Inland Revenue Regulation Act, 1890 (which, as amended by the Inland Revenue and Post Office (Powers and Duties) Order, 1914, made under section twenty of the Finance Act, 1911, enables him to compound legal proceedings for the recovery of fines and penalties in respect of certain offences relating to stamps).
5 Annual resolution of House of Commons for payments out of the Fund.
5. Notwithstanding anything in this Act the Postmaster General shall not, in...
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