HL Deb 27 February 1940 vol 115 cc613-8

Order of the Day for the House to be put into Committee read.

Moved, That the House do now resolve itself into Committee.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House in Committee accordingly:

[The EARL OF ONSLOW in the Chair.]

Clause 1:

Application of Act to assurance policies.

1. This Act applies to—

  1. (a) policies of industrial assurance;
  2. (b) policies of assurance upon human life effected with collecting societies, not being policies of industrial assurance; and
  3. (c) policies of assurance upon human life, in respect of which there are separate premiums, effected with registered friendly societies other than collecting societies;
being policies of assurance for an amount not exceeding fifty pounds, exclusive of any bonus added thereto, which were effected at least two years before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and were in force immediately before that day.

4.30 p.m.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT CALDECOTE) moved to leave out all words after and including "effected" and insert "in force immediately before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and in respect of which not less than two years' premiums have been paid (whether before or after the passing of this Act)." The noble and learned Viscount said: My right honourable and learned friend the Attorney-General in another place undertook to insert an Amendment to Clause 1 by which the scope of the Bill would be slightly enlarged. The Bill as it received a Second Reading only applied to policies which had been effected at least two years before September 1, 1939. The Amendment proposed will make the Bill apply to policies in force on September 1, 1939, and in respect of which not less than two years' premiums have been paid.

Amendment moved— Page 1, line 17, leave out from ("were") to the end of line 19, and insert the said new words.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 1, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 2:

Protection from forfeiture in cases of default due to war.

(5) Where an application under this section is granted, whether by the company or society or the Commissioner, then, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to the determination of protection, the policy shall not be forfeited for the default to which the application related or any subsequent default in the payment of premiums and no further notice shall be served under Section twenty-three of the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923, and any term of the policy providing that, on a default in the payment of premiums, the policy shall be converted into a free paid-up policy for a reduced amount or be surrendered for a cash payment, shall not apply as respects the said default or any subsequent default.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (5), to leave out all words after "1923." The noble and learned Viscount said: It is proposed to leave out these words in order that an Amendment which will come in more properly to Clause 10 may be made effecting the same purpose. It is really a drafting Amendment, and I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 3, line 14, leave out from ("1923") to the end of line 18.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 3 agreed to.

Clause 4:

Determination of protection.

4. Where in relation to any policy of assurance an application for protection has been granted under this Act, the company or society with which the policy was effected may at any time appeal to the Commissioner for the protection to be determined, and if the Commissioner is satisfied that the owner of the policy is no longer unable by reason of circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war to pay the premiums on the policy, he shall make an order for the determination of the protection, and thereupon subsection (5) of Section two of this Act shall cease to apply as respects any default in the payment of premiums falling due after the date of the order, but without prejudice to the making of a further application for protection.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved to leave out Clause 4 and insert the following new clause:

Determination of protection.

"4.—(1) Where in relation to any policy of assurance an application for protection has been granted under this Act by the company or society with which the policy was effected, and the company or society is satisfied that the owner of the policy is no longer unable by reason of circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war to pay the premiums on the policy, it may serve a notice in the prescribed form on the owner of the policy to the effect that his protection will be determined after the expiration of twenty-eight days from the service of the notice, but that an appeal against the notice may be made within the said twenty-eight days by or on behalf of the owner to the Commissioner.

(2) Where an appeal is made in accordance with the notice, the protection shall not be determined pending the decision of the appeal, and if the Commissioner is satisfied that the notice ought not to have been served, he shall revoke the notice.

(3) Where in relation to any policy of assurance an application for protection has been granted under this Act by the Commissioner, the company or society with which the policy was effected may at any time appeal to the Commissioner for the protection to be determined, and if the Commissioner is satisfied that the owner of the policy is no longer unable by reason of circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war to pay the premiums on the policy, he shall make an order for the determination of the protection.

(4) Where a notice has been served under this section and has not been revoked on appeal, or the Commissioner has made an order determining the protection, subsection (5) of Section two of this Act shall cease to apply as respects any default in the payment of premiums falling due after—

  1. (a) the expiration of the period specified in the notice or the decision of the appeal (if any) against the notice, whichever is the later, or
  2. (b) the date of the order,
as the case may be, but nothing herein shall be taken to prejudice the making of a further application for protection.

(5) Where in relation to any policy of assurance an appeal is made to the Commissioner and granted by him, whether under this section or under any other provision of this Act, the policy shall thereafter be treated for the purposes of this section as a policy in relation to which an application for protection has been granted by the Commissioner and not by the company or society with which the policy was effected."

The noble and learned Viscount said: Clause 4 deals with the position that arises when a policy has been protected with the consent of the company or society without necessarily resorting to the Commissioner. It was felt by the societies or companies concerned that they should be entitled to withdraw protection in cases where they had originally granted protection on the application of the holder of the policy without resort to the Industrial Assurance Commissioner. It is proposed now, in accordance with an undertaking which my right honourable and learned friend gave in another place, at a late stage of the Bill, to remove the existing Clause 4 and substitute the rather longer clause appearing on the Order Paper, which carries out the purpose I have named.

Amendment moved— Leave out Clause 4, and insert the said new clause.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 5:

Cancellation of forfeiture notices and reinstatement of policies forfeited before passing of the Act.

5.—(1) Where in relation to any policy of assurance to which this Act applies a notice has been served before the passing of this Act under Section twenty-three of the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923, but the policy to which the notice relates has not been forfeited, the notice shall be of no effect.

(2) Where a policy of assurance to which this Act applies has been forfeited on or after the first day of September, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and before the passing of this Act, an application may lie made by or on behalf of the owner of the policy, within three months of the passing of this Act, to the company or society with which the policy was effected and, if the company or society is satisfied that the default in respect of which the policy was forfeited was due to circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war, it shall reinstate the policy and endorse it, or serve on the owner of the policy a notice, to the effect that it is a policy protected under this Act, and thereupon this Act shall have effect as if it had been in force when the default occurred and an application for protection in respect of the default had been duly made and granted thereunder: Provided that, if the company or society is satisfied that the owner of the policy is no longer unable by reason of circumstances arising directly or indirectly out of the war to pay the premiums on the policy, it may serve a notice in the prescribed form on the applicant declaring that he will not be protected as respects any default in the payment of future premiums, except as the result of an appeal to the Commissioner or a future application for protection, and thereupon this Act shall have effect as if an order determining the protection had been made under the last foregoing section.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (2), to substitute "applicant" for "owner of the policy," where those words occur for the second time. The noble and learned Viscount said: This is a drafting Amendment to correct a mistake made in another place.

Amendment moved— Page 5, line 32, leave out ("owner of the policy") and insert ("applicant").—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR

The next five Amendments are all consequential on the new Clause 4 which your Lordships have just inserted.

THE LORD CHAIRMAN

With your Lordships' permission I shall put the Amendments en bloc.

Amendments moved—

Page 5, leave out from the beginning of line 38 to the end of the subsection.

Page 6, line 8, leave out from "subsection") to ("it") in line 9.

Page 6, line 10, leave out ("in the case of a refusal").

Page 6, line 13, leave out from ("Commissioner") to the end of line 15.

Page 6, line 24, leave out from("Act") to the end of line 26.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendments agreed to.

Clause 5, as amended, agreed to.

Clauses 6 to 9 agreed to.

Clause 10:

Interpretation.

10. The following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them:— Owner" means, in relation to a policy of assurance effected with a registered friendly society other than a collecting society, the person who is for the time being the person entitled to receive the sums payable under the policy on maturity;

THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, at the end of the definition of "owner," to insert "and means, in relation to any policy of assurance which has been forfeited, the person who would be so entitled if the policy were still in force." The noble and learned Viscount said: This is the Amendment which I mentioned a few moments ago as making it necessary to leave out the last five lines of Clause 2. This is really a drafting Amendment, and I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 9, line 9, at end insert the said words.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved to add to the clause: (2) References in this Act to the forfeiting of a policy of assurance shall, except where the context otherwise requires, be construed, in a case where the policy provides that, on a default in the payment of premiums, the policy shall be converted into free-paid-up policy for a reduced amount, as including references to such a conversion. The noble and learned Viscount said: This is a purely drafting Amendment which I ask your Lordships to make.

Amendment moved— Page 9, line 24, at end insert the said new subsection.—(The Lord Chancellor.)

On Question, Amendment agreed to.

Clause 10, as amended, agreed to.

Remaining clauses agreed to.

House adjourned at twenty-four minutes before five o'clock.