Workmen's Compensation Act 1925
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1925 c. 84 |
| Year | 1925 |
Workmen's Compensation Act, 1925.
(15 & 16 Geo. 5.) CHAPTER 84.
An Act to consolidate the law relating to compensation to workmen for injuries suffered in the course of their employment.
[22nd December 1925]
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.
Compensation for Injuries.
Right to Compensation.
1 Liability of employers to workmen for injuries.
(1) If in any employment personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment is caused to a workman, his employer shall, subject as hereinafter mentioned, be liable to pay compensation in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained:
Provided that—
(a ) The employer shall not be liable under this Act in respect of any injury which does not disable the workman for a period of at least three days from earning full wages at the work at which he was employed:
(b ) If it is proved that the injury to a workman is attributable to the serious and wilful misconduct of that workman, any compensation claimed in respect of that injury shall, unless the injury results in death or serious and permanent disablement, be disallowed.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, an accident resulting in the death or serious and permanent disablement of a workman shall be deemed to arise out of and in the course of his employment, notwithstanding that the workman was at the time when the accident happened acting in contravention of any statutory or other regulation applicable to his employment, or of any orders given by or on behalf of his employer, or that he was acting without instructions from his employer, if such act was done by the workman for the purposes of and in connection with his employer's trade or business.
(3) This Act shall apply notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, except that where under this Act the provisions of a scheme are substituted for the provisions of this Act, the employer shall be liable only in accordance with the scheme.
2 Persons entitled to compensation.
(1) The compensation shall be payable to or for the benefit of the workman, or, where death results from the injury, to or for the benefit of his dependants as provided by this Act.
(2) Where there are both total and partial dependants nothing in this Act shall be construed as preventing the compensation being allotted partly to the total and partly to the partial dependants.
(3) Where a dependant dies before a claim under this Act is made, or if a claim has been made, before an agreement or award has been arrived at or made, the legal personal representative of the dependant shall have no right to payment of compensation, and the amount of compensation shall be calculated and apportioned as if that dependant had died before the workman.
3 Meaning of ‘workman.’
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression ‘workman,’ subject to the exceptions hereinafter mentioned, means any person who has entered into or works under a contract of service or apprenticeship with an employer, whether by way of manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, and whether the contract is expressed or implied, is oral or in writing; and also includes a person engaged in plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel the use of which is obtained from the owner thereof under any contract of bailment (other than a hire purchase agreement) in consideration of the payment of a fixed sum or a share in the earnings or otherwise.
(2) The following persons are excepted from the definition of workman, that is to say—
(a ) any person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose remuneration exceeds three hundred and fifty pounds a year; or
(b ) a person whose employment is of a casual nature and who is employed otherwise than for the purposes of the employer's trade or business, not being a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club; or
(c ) a member of a police force; or
(d ) an out worker; or
(e ) a member of the employer's family dwelling in his house.
(3) If on any proceedings for the recovery of compensation under this Act it appears to the judge of county courts or other person by whom the claim to compensation is to be settled that the contract of service or apprenticeship under which the injured person was working at the time when the accident causing the injury happened was illegal, he may, if having regard to all the circumstances of the case he thinks proper so to do, deal with the matter as if the injured person had at the time aforesaid been a person working under a valid contract of service or apprenticeship.
4 Dependants entitled to compensation.
(1) The dependants of a workman entitled to claim compensation under this Act where the injury results in death are such of the members of the workman's family as were wholly or in part dependent upon the earnings of the workman at the time of his death, or would but for the incapacity due to the accident have been so dependent, and where the workman, being the parent or grandparent of an illegitimate child, leaves such a child so dependent upon his earnings, or, being an illegitimate child, leaves a parent or grandparent so dependent upon his earnings, shall include such an illegitimate child and parent or grandparent respectively.
(2) A person shall not be deemed to be a partial dependant of another person unless he was dependent partially on contributions from that other person for the provision of the ordinary necessaries of life suitable for persons in his class and position.
(3) In this Act unless the context otherwise requires the expression ‘Member of a family’ means wife or husband, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister.
5 Meaning of ‘employer.’
(1) In this Act unless the context otherwise requires the expression ‘Employer’ includes any body of persons corporate or unincorporate and the legal personal representative of a deceased employer, and, where the services of a workman are temporarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with whom the workman has entered into a contract of service or apprenticeship, the latter shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to continue to be the employer of the workman whilst he is working for that other person.
(2) In relation to a person engaged in plying for hire with any vehicle or vessel, the use of which is obtained from the owner thereof under a contract of bailment, the owner of the vehicle or vessel shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the employer.
(3) In relation to a person employed for the purposes of any game or recreation and engaged or paid through a club, the manager, or members of the managing committee, of the club shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the employer.
6 Liability in case of workmen employed by contractors.
(1) Where any person (in this section referred to as the principal), in the course of or for the purposes of his trade or business, contracts with any other person (in this section referred to as the contractor) for the execution by or under the contractor of the whole or any part of any work undertaken by the principal, the principal shall be liable to pay to any workman employed in the execution of the work any compensation under this Act which he would have been liable to pay if that workman had been immediately employed by him; and where compensation is claimed from or proceedings are taken against the principal, then, in the application of this Act, references to the principal shall be substituted for references to the employer, except that the amount of compensation shall be calculated with reference to the earnings of the workman under the employer by whom he is immediately employed:
Provided that, where the contract relates to threshing, ploughing, or other agricultural work, and the contractor provides and uses machinery driven by mechanical power for the purpose of such work, he and he alone shall be liable under this Act to pay compensation to any workman employed by him on such work.
(2) Where the principal is liable to pay compensation under this section, he shall be entitled to be indemnified by any person who would have been liable to pay compensation to the workman independently of this section.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing a workman recovering compensation under this Act from the contractor instead of the principal.
(4) This section shall not apply in any case where the accident occurred elsewhere than on, or in, or about premises on which the principal has undertaken to execute the work or which are otherwise under his control or management.
7 Provision as to cases of bankruptcy of employer.
(1) Where any employer has entered into a contract with any insurers in respect of any liability under this Act to any workman, then, in the event of the employer becoming bankrupt, or making a composition or arrangement with his creditors, or, if the employer is a company, in the event of...
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