Reserve Forces Act 1966
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1966 c. 30 |
Reserve Forces Act 1966
1966 CHAPTER 30
An Act to make further provision with respect to reserve forces, associations established for the purposes of the Auxiliary Forces Act 1953, the discharge of men of the regular army and air force and the qualifications for appointment as deputy lieutenant; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[9th August 1966]
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:—
Alteration of name and organisation of certain reserves
1 Change of name of territorial army and marine volunteer reserve.
(1) The territorial army and the royal marine forces volunteer reserve shall be known respectively as the territorial and of army volunteer reserve and the royal marines reserve, and references to that army or marine volunteer reserve in any enactment or instrument shall be construed accordingly.
(2) The territorial and army volunteer reserve is hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the volunteer reserve’.
2 Establishment of home service force in volunteer reserve.
(1) There shall be established, as part of the volunteer reserve, a force for home service (hereafter in this section referred to as ‘the home service force’) which shall consist of—
(a ) persons who on the appointed day are members of any unit of the volunteer reserve which is designated by warrant of Her Majesty as a unit of the home service force; and
(b ) persons who become officers of, or enlist or re-engage in, the volunteer reserve for service with the home service force; and
(c ) members of the volunteer reserve who are not members of the home service force by virtue of the foregoing paragraphs and who are transferred to that force with their consent.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other enactment, a member of the home service force shall not—
(a ) be required to serve, either on permanent service or otherwise, outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man; or
(b ) except in the case of the holder of a land forces commission, be transferred to any other part of the military forces without his consent;
but a member of the home service force who is transferred to another part of the military forces shall cease to be a member of that force.
3 Abolition of naval volunteer reserve, certain reserve division and class 2 of army reserve etc.
(1) The royal naval volunteer reserve is hereby abolished.
(2) There shall cease to be reserve divisions of the volunteer reserve and the royal auxiliary air force.
(3) There shall cease to be a second class of the army reserve; and the first class of that reserve shall be the army reserve, shall cease to be called the first class of that reserve and shall not be divided into two divisions.
4 Change in maximum numbers of certain reserves.
(1) The aggregate number of persons for the time being liable to be called out by virtue of agreements made in pursuance of section 3 of the Army Reserve Act 1962 shall not exceed such number as may from time to time be provided by Parliament.
(2) So much of section 3(6) of the Army Reserve Act 1962 as limits the aggregate number of the persons liable to be called out by virtue of agreements made in pursuance of paragraph (c ) of section 6(1) of the Army Reserve Act 1950 and of the persons for the time being designated under paragraph (b ) of the said section 6(1) shall cease to have effect.
(3) Section 6(3) of the Air Force Reserve Act 1950 (which imposes limits on the numbers of persons liable to be called out or designated under provisions corresponding to those mentioned in the last foregoing subsection) shall cease to have effect.
Call out of reserves
5 Call out of reserves in case of national danger etc.
(1) If it appears to Her Majesty that national danger is imminent or that a great emergency has arisen She may, subject to the following provisions of this section, by order signified under the hand of the Secretary of State, authorise the calling out of any reserve force for permanent service in any part of the world.
(2) Where an order is made under subsection (1) of this section the occasion thereof shall forthwith be communicated to Parliament; and if Parliament is then separated by such adjournment or prorogation as will not expire within five days, a proclamation shall be issued for the meeting of Parliament within five days, and Parliament shall accordingly meet and sit upon the day appointed by the proclamation, and shall continue to sit and act in like manner as if it had stood adjourned or prorogued to the same day.
(3) In relation to a man of the royal auxiliary air force in whose case it was agreed at the time of his enlistment that he was accepted for home service only,—
(a ) subsection (1) of this section shall have effect as if for the reference to any part of the world there were substituted a reference to the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man; and
(b ) section 43(2) of the Auxiliary Forces Act 1953 (which relates to flights outside the countries aforesaid) shall have effect for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section as adapted by the foregoing paragraph as it has effect for the purposes mentioned in the said section 43(2).
(4) An order in force under subsection (1) of this section may be revoked by an order of Her Majesty signified as there mentioned; but the revocation shall not affect the liability for service of any person called into service by virtue of the order at the time of its revocation.
(5) In this section ‘reserve force’ means any of the following bodies, that is to say—
(a ) the army reserve;
(b ) the volunteer reserve;
(c ) the air force reserve;
(d ) the royal auxiliary air force;
(e ) the royal naval reserve raised under the Royal Naval Reserve (Volunteer) Act 1859 , including the royal fleet reserve raised under the Naval Reserve Act 1900 and the special class of the fleet reserve;
(f ) the royal naval special reserve; and
(g ) the royal marines reserve.
6 Call out of reservists for war-like operations.
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (6) of this section, a person to whom this section applies shall be liable to be called out for permanent service in any part of the world when war-like operations are in preparation or progress.
(2) A member of the volunteer reserve shall not be liable to be called out under subsection (1) of this section unless there is in force an order of Her Majesty, signified under the hand of the Secretary of State, authorising the calling out under this section of members of that reserve.
(3) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, the persons to whom this section applies are—
(a ) any member of the army reserve or the air force reserve who became such a member on or after the appointed day otherwise than—
(ii) in consequence of his having enlisted in the regular army or regular air force before the appointed day;
(b ) any member of the volunteer reserve who became such a member on or after the appointed day by enlisting or re-engaging in that reserve or by becoming an officer of that reserve;
(c ) any member of the special class of the fleet reserve who became such a member on or after the appointed day otherwise than in consequence of his having, before the appointed day, been entered for non-continuous service in the naval service of Her Majesty or enlisted to serve in the royal marine forces; and
(d ) any other member of a reserve or class mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs who has elected in pursuance of subsection (5) of this section to be a person to whom this section applies and has been notified in the prescribed manner that he has been accepted as such a person.
(4) References in paragraphs (a ) and (c ) of subsection (3) of this section to becoming a member of a reserve or class include references to remaining a member of it by virtue of a new engagement or other agreement, and a notification in pursuance of paragraph (d ) of that subsection may be made to take effect on a day determined by the notification.
(5) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, a member of a reserve or class mentioned in subsection (3) of this section who is not a person to whom this section applies may elect irrevocably in the prescribed manner to be such a person, and a person who immediately before the appointed day was a man of the regular army or the regular air force or was serving by reason of his having been entered or enlisted as mentioned in subsection (3)(c ) of this section may elect irrevocably in the prescribed manner that, on his becoming a member of such a reserve or class, he shall be a person to whom this section applies.
(6) A member of the force constituted by section 2 of this Act shall not be a person to whom this section applies; and the Secretary of State may by regulations make provision—
(a ) for securing that persons of such descriptions as may be prescribed who but for the regulations would be persons to whom this section applies shall not be such persons;
(b ) for relaxing, in such cases as may be prescribed, the liability imposed by subsection (1) of this...
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