HC Deb 23 January 1945 vol 407 cc681-3

  1. (1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, any contributory employee or local Act contributor who received in respect of work done by him in the standard year as returning officer at a local government election, other than an election to fill a casual vacancy, or in connection with the preparation of a register of electors under the Act of 1918 or jurors' book, remuneration, otherwise than as part of an inclusive salary continuing to be received by him, shall be entitled to contribute a sum in respect of that remuneration to the appropriate superannuation fund in respect of any year in which, by reason only of the Act of 1943 or this Act being in force he is not required to do such work; and for the purpose of computing in accordance with the provisions of section eight of the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937, the average remuneration of any contributory employee or of calculating the superannuation allowance of any local Act contributor under a local Act scheme, he shall be deemed to have received in respect of service rendered in any year, in respect of which such contributions were made by him the remuneration by reference to which the contributions were calculated.
  2. (2) A person otherwise entitled under subsection (1) of this section to make contributions to a superannuation fund in respect of any year shall not be so entitled if he receives in respect of work done in that year by him under the Act of 1943 and this Act (otherwise than as part of an inclusive salary) remuneration greater than that in respect of which he would be entitled to make the contributions.
  3. (3) Where a person makes a contribution under the said subsection (1) in respect of any year he shall not be required or entitled to make, in respect of that year, any contribution under the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937, in respect of the remuneration received by him (otherwise than as part of an inclusive salary) in respect of work done by him in that year under the Act of 1943 or this Act and the said remuneration shall be disregarded for the purpose of computing, in accordance with the provisions of section eight of the said Act of 1937, his average remuneration (if he is a contributory employee) or of calculating his superannuation allowance under a local Act scheme (if he is a local Act contributor).
  4. (4) In this section the expressions 'contributory employee,' 'local Act contributor,' 'local Act Scheme' and appropriate superannuation fund,' have the same meanings, respectively, as in the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937, except that in rela- 682 tion to a local Act contributor the last mentioned expression means the superannuation fund in the benefits of which he is entitled to participate; and the expression 'standard year' means, in relation to work done by any person as returning officer at a local government election, the last year before the year nineteen hundred and forty in which such work was done by him, and, in relation to work done by any person in connection with the preparation of a register of electors or jurors' book, the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.
  5. (5) In the application of this section to Scotland references to the Local Government Superannuation (Scotland) Act, 1937, shall be substituted for references to the Local Government Superannuation Act, 1937.—[The Lord Advocate.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

The Lord Advocate

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

During the Committee stage my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Ilford (Mr. Hutchinson) moved a Clause which we accepted in principle but desired to redraft. We have now redrafted it, and I trust that he will agree that it meets his point. It is a substantial point. If this Clause were not included it would mean that persons who have paid money into superannuation funds under existing legislation, and in particular under two war-time Acts passed in 1940 and 1943, would be deprived of any ultimate benefit from those payments. The two Acts to which I have referred appear to afford adequate precedents for this new Clause. As the matter is rather complicated it may be that the Committee will not desire a detailed explanation of the Clause.

Mr. Geoffrey Hutchinson (Ilford)

As my right hon. and learned Friend has said, this Clause has been moved in accordance with an undertaking given on the Committee stage in pursuance of which I withdrew the Clause which my hon. Friend the Member for the Park Division of Sheffield (Mr. Burden) and I had set down. This new Clause does appear to bring about what was intended to be brought about by the Clause which my hon. Friend and I put down, and that being so I think it is unnecessary for me to enter into the rather complicated details of this matter, and that it will be sufficient for me to say that I, and I am sure my hon. Friend, are grateful to the Lord Advocate for the manner in which he has met us, and I think that I can assure him that those whose rights would otherwise have been interfered with will share the feelings of gratitude which I have expressed.

Question put, and agreed to.

Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.