§ (1) Subject to the provisions of this Section all approved societies which at the date of any valuation have less than five thousand insured persons as members, shall, for the purposes of valuation—
- (a) if they have joined an association formed under this Section, be associated with the other societies in the same association; and
- (b) if they have not joined any such association, be grouped together according to the localities in which they carry on business.
§ (2) Any such societies may, with the consent of the Insurance Commissioners, form for the purposes of this Section an association with a central financial committee, provided that the aggregate number of insured persons who are members of the associated societies is not less than five thousand, and the conditions on which a society shall be entitled to join, or having joined to secede from, an association, shall be such as may be prescribed.
§ (3) Any such society which has not joined any such association as aforesaid, and which carries on business in any county or county borough, shall, for the purposes of this section, be grouped with the other unassociated societies carrying on business in the same county or county borough.
§ (4) The provisions of this Part of this Act as to the application of surpluses of branches of societies with branches shall apply to such associated and grouped societies as if all the societies in any association or group were branches of a single society, subject to the following modifications:—
- (a) A reference to central financial committee or the local Health Committee for the county or county borough shall, as the case may require, be substituted for the reference to the central authority of the society;
- (b) If after applying the sums received from such of the associated or grouped societies as have surpluses in meeting deficiencies of such of those societies as have deficiencies, any balance remains in the hands of the central financial committee or the local Health Committee, the committee shall distribute that balance amongst such of the associated or grouped societies as had
709 surpluses, in proportion to the amounts of such surpluses, and the sum so apportioned to a society shall be treated as an addition to the moiety of the disposable surplus retained by the society.
§ (5) For the purposes of this Section a society shall be deemed to carry on business only in the county or county borough in which its registered office or other principal place of business is situate:
§ Provided that where of the insured persons who are members of a grouped society at the date of any valuation more than one hundred or more than one-sixth reside in some county or county borough other than that in which the registered office or other principal place of business is situate the proper proportion of any surplus or deficiency of the society shall, if application for the purpose is made by any of the local Health Committees concerned, be apportioned to the local Health Committee of that other county or county borough, such proportion to be determined, in default of agreement between the local Health Committees concerned, by the Insurance Commissioners.
§ (6) The Insurance Commissioners may exempt from this section any society consisting of persons entitled to rights in a provident or other fund established for the benefit of persons employed by one or more employers, if the employer, in addition to the contributions payable by him under this Part of this Act, is responsible for the solvency of the fund, or for the benefits payable thereout, or is liable to pay a substantial part of, or to make substantial contributions to, or substantially to supplement the benefits payable out of the fund, and this section shall not apply to any society to which such an exemption has been granted.
§ (7) Except so far as relates to the power of refusing to make good in whole or in part a deficiency due to maladministration on the part of any society, nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on any central financial committee or local health committee any powers of control over the administration of associated or grouped societies.
§ Amendments made: In Sub-section (1), after the word "members" ["persons as members"], insert the words "for the purposes of this Part of the Act."
§ After the word "of" ["for the purposes of"], insert the word "the."
710§ In Sub-section (2), after the word "entitled" ["entitled to join"], insert the words "or allowed."
§ In Sub-section (4), paragraph (a), after the word "to" ["to central financial committee"], insert the word "the."
§ Leave out paragraph (b) and insert instead thereof,
§ (b) The approval of the central financial committee or local health committee shall not be required to any scheme prepared by an associated or grouped society for the distribution of any surplus.
§ At end of paragraph (b) insert,
§ (5) Where an associated or grouped society is a society with branches, the provisions of this Part of this Act relating to surpluses and deficiencies of societies with branches shall not apply to the society but each branch shall for the purposes of this Section be deemed to be a separate society.
§ In Sub-section (6) leave out the words "provident or other" ["provident or other fund"], and insert instead the words "superannuation or other provident."—[Mr. Lloyd George.]