Government Annuities Act 1929

Title and introductory text

Government Annuities Act 1929 1929 c.29 An Act to consolidate the Government Annuities Acts 1829 to 1888, and the enactments amending those Acts. [10th May 1929]

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8 Security for and payment of annuities.

(1) All immediate life annuities . . . , shall be charged on the National Loans Fund and issued thereout . . . at such times as the Treasury may direct. (2) All deferred life annuities shall be charged on and paid out of the funds established under the Government Annuities (Investments) Act 1864, and regulated by Part III of this Act, which fund is hereinafter in this Act referred to as the “Government Annuities Investment Fund.”

9 Times of payment.

(1) All annuities granted under this Part of this Act shall be payable quarterly, on the fifth day of January, the fifth day of April, the fifth day of July, and the fifth day of October, in each year. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) On the expiry of a life annuity by reason of the death of a single nominee, or of the survivor of two joint nominees, or of either of two joint nominees, a sum equal to one-fourth part of the annuity, over and above all quarterly arrears thereof, shall, if claimed within two years after the death of that nominee, but not otherwise, be payable to the person entitled to the annuity, or to his executors, administrators or assigns, as the case may be, at any time after the expiration of thirty days after proof of the death: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

10 Mode of payment of life annuities.

(1) The quarterly payments of life annuities shall be made by the Commissioners by warrants, addressed to the Bank of England, upon proof of the existence of the nominee, or, if the annuity depends on two joint lives and the life of the survivor, of either of the nominees, or, if the annuity depends on the joint continuance of two lives, of both the nominees, either— (a) by the personal appearance of such nominee or nominees before an officer of the Commissioners on the quarterly day for payment or some day subsequent thereto; or (b) by the production of such certificate and declaration as are in this section mentioned; or (c) by other evidence to the satisfaction of the Commissioners. (2) The certificate so required shall be a certificate by any person prescribed in that behalf by a warrant of the Treasury that the nominee was living on a day specified in the certificate, being the quarterly day for payment, or some day subsequent thereto. (3) The declaration so required shall be a declaration by a person entitled to the life annuity, or some person on his behalf, stating that the person mentioned in the certificate is the nominee or one of the nominees on whose life the annuity depends, and where an annuity depends on the life of two nominees and the life of the survivor, the declaration, if referring to one only of the nominees, shall state whether the other of the two nominees is living or dead, and, if living, his usual place of residence, or that the person making the declaration is wholly ignorant whether such other nominee is living or dead, or of his place of residence, as the case may be. (4) Where two or more annuities have been granted upon the life of the same nominee, then— (a) if the existence of the nominee has been proved by his personal appearance before an officer of the Commissioners for the purpose of one of those annuities, no further proof of his existence shall be required in respect of any other such annuity; and (b) if a certificate of the existence of the nominee has been produced in accordance with the provisions of this section by a person entitled to one annuity, it shall not be necessary for a person entitled to another such annuity to produce a certificate, but a declaration by or on behalf of the person entitled to such other annuity as to the identity of the person to whom the certificate relates with the person on whose life his annuity depends shall be sufficient.

11 Mode of payment of one-fourth of life annuity on expiration of annuity.

(1) The sum equal to one-fourth of a life annuity payable under this Part of this Act on the expiration of the annuity, shall (with all quarterly arrears) be paid by the Commissioners by warrant addressed to the Bank of England, on production to the proper officer of the Commissioners of a certificate of the death or burial of the nominee on whose death the annuity expired, together with a declaration as to the identity of the person named in the certificate with that nominee, which declaration shall also state the date of his death: Provided that, where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that such certificate as aforesaid cannot be produced, the Commissioners may admit such other evidence of the death of the nominee as in each case may be considered sufficient. (2) Certificates of death or burial for the purpose of this section shall specify the date of death or burial, and shall be given by such persons as are authorised by a warrant of the Treasury. (3) Extracts or copies from the registers of the Society of Friends (commonly called Quakers) or from the register of any Nonconformist or Roman Catholic chapel or any non-parochial chapel, if certified by the registrar or other person keeping the register, shall be accepted as evidence of death or burial.

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13 Transfers of life annuities.

(1) Life annuities shall be transferable in the books of the Commissioners in such form and subject to such regulations as the Commissioners may approve: Provided that every such annuity shall only be transferable entire and not in parts or shares. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) On the transfer of an annuity the person to whom the transfer is made shall, if the Commissioners . . . so require, sign his acceptance thereof himself or by his duly authorised agent.

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15 Unclaimed annuities.

(1) The Commissioners shall, on the fifth day of January in every year, make up an account of all life annuities which have remained unclaimed for the space of the last three years, and all annuities so remaining unclaimed, together with the unclaimed quarterly arrears thereof, and all life annuities which may have expired, and all quarterly arrears thereof, shall cease to be charged upon and shall not be issued out of the fund on which they are charged by this Part of this Act, as from the date from which they have remained so unclaimed or on which they have so expired: Provided that nothing in this section shall prejudice the rights of any person entitled to any such unclaimed annuity to claim the quarterly arrears and future payments thereof, the claim being supported by such proof of the existence of the nominee as is required by section ten of this Act, and in every such case the Commissioners may reinstate the annuity so claimed and charge it and all arrears thereof on the same fund as previously. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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19 Certification of amounts payable on the several quarter days.

The Comptroller-General, acting under the Commissioners, shall within fourteen days preceding the fifth day of January, the fifth day of April, the fifth day of July, and the fifth day of October, in each year, certify to the Treasury the amount on account of annuities which will become payable under this Part of this Act out of the National Loans Fund on each of those dates respectively, and the Treasury shall thereupon by warrant direct the issue out of the National Loans Fund to the account of the Commissioners of the sum specified in the certificate.

20 Validity of payments to executors and administrators.

Where probate or letters of administration have been granted to any person in respect of the estate of a person entitled to an annuity under this Part of this Act, the production of the probate or letters of administration granted by any court in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands shall be a sufficient authority to the Commissioners to pay to the person to whom the probate or letters of administration have been granted any sum which may be due on account of such annuity if the amount of the estate exceeds that sum.

21 Payment of small sums on death without letters of administration.

On the death of a person to whom any sum not exceeding £5000 is due from the Commissioners in respect of any life annuity granted under this Part of this Act, then, if the Commissioners so direct and subject to the regulations (if any) made by the Treasury, probate or other proof of the title of the personal representative of the deceased person may be dispensed with, and the said sum may be paid or distributed to or among the persons appearing to the Commissioners beneficially entitled to the personal estate of the deceased person, or to or among any one or more of those persons, or in the case of the illegitimacy of the deceased person or his children, to or among such persons as the Commissioners may think fit, and the Commissioners shall be discharged from all liability in respect of any such payment or distribution.

22 Exemptions from duties.

(1) No stamp duty shall be payable in respect of— (a)—(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (d) any transfer or acceptance of any such annuity in the books of the Commissioners . . . ; or (e) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (f) any other instrument . . . made out by or under the authority of the Commissioners. (2) Annuities granted under this Part of this Act shall not be liable to any taxes, charges, or impositions, other than those to which dividends on consolidated stock may for the time being be liable.

23 Evidence.

(1) The Commissioners may, in any case where a declaration is required under this Part of this Act, require the declaration to be confirmed by an affidavit before the Comptroller-General or officer appointed for the purpose by the Commissioners, or before a justice of the peace or magistrate. (2) Where a declaration is required to be produced under this Part of this Act for the purpose of receiving an annuity, an affidavit may be produced in lieu thereof. (3) Where any evidence is produced by any person for the purpose of the . . . receipt of an annuity which is not strictly conformable with the provisions of this Part of this Act, the Commissioners may admit such evidence if it appears satisfactory. (4) The Commissioners or the Comptroller-General or any officer appointed for the purpose by the Commissioners may administer oaths for the purposes of affidavits under this Part of this Act.

24 Provisions as to warrants.

(1) All warrants of the Commissioners for the payment of sums payable by them under this Part of this Act may, subject to regulations made by the Commissioners, be sent by post. (2) A warrant so sent by post shall be deemed to be a cheque of the Commissioners within the meaning of any enactment relating to cheques for the time being in force. (3) Any person desirous of having a warrant for an annuity sent to him through the post shall give to the Commissioners an address in the British Islands to which a letter containing the warrant is to be sent, and, subject to the provisions of any regulations made under this Part of this Act, the posting by the Commissioners of a letter containing the warrant addressed to an annuitant at his request at the address given by him to the Commissioners shall, as respects the liability of the Commissioners and of the National Loans Fund, be equivalent to the delivery of the warrant to the annuitant himself. (4) For the purposes of this Part of this Act, the expression “warrant” shall be deemed to include any draft, order, cheque, or other document for the time being used by the Commissioners as a medium for the payment of annuities under this Part of this Act.

25 Provisions as to certificates, &c.

(1) Certificates, declarations, and other instruments required for the purposes of this Part of this Act shall be in such form and shall conform with such regulations as the Commissioners may approve. (2) No fee shall be taken by any officer acting under the Commissioners for granting any certificate, or for any other act, matter or thing to be done in pursuance of this Part of this Act.

26 Power to correct errors.

The Commissioners may correct, rectify or amend any contract for an annuity, or any certificate or other instrument, in cases where any mistake or accidental error has been made in carrying out any provisions of this Part of this Act.

27 Regulations.

(1) The Commissioners may make regulations providing for the production or transmission by post or otherwise to the persons prescribed in the regulations of the certificates and declarations which are required to be produced before the payment of annuities, and with respect to any matters which under this Part of this Act are expressed to be subject to regulations of the Commissioners. (2) The Commissioners, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may make regulations as to the mode in which any sum payable by the Commissioners in respect of an annuity under this Part of this Act may be paid, and the manner in which a valid discharge is to be given to the Commissioners for any such payment, and payments made and discharges given in accordance with the regulations shall be valid notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act to the contrary.

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29 Allowances to Bank of England.

Such allowances to the Bank of England as the Treasury approve in respect of services rendered by the cashiers and other officers of the bank in the execution of this Part of this Act, shall be paid by the Treasury out of moneys provided by Parliament.

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31 Punishment for improper receipt of annuity.

If any person contrary to the provisions of this Part of this Act receives any payment in respect of any life annuity after the death of the nominee, or of the survivor, or of either of two nominees in the case of an annuity depending on the joint continuance of two lives, knowing such nominee to be dead, he shall forfeit treble the amount of all money so received and also a further sum of five hundred pounds.

32 Punishment for false statements.

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) If any certificate of the existence or death or burial of any nominee given under this Part of this Act by a person prescribed in that behalf by a warrant of the Treasury is false, the person giving it shall, if he acted wilfully, be guilty of a misdemeanour, and, if he acted negligently, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. (3) If any declaration made for the purposes of this Part of this Act is untrue in any particular, the person making the declaration shall, in addition to any other penalty to which he may be subject, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds. (4) If, in . . . Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, any person in any declaration or affidavit for the purposes of this Part of this Act before any justice of the peace, magistrate, or officer of the Commissioners, wilfully makes any false statement, he shall be liable on conviction to be punished as if he were guilty of perjury.

33 Forgery.

If, in Scotland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, any person forges or knowingly assists in forging or, with intent to defraud, utters to any person acting under this Part of this Act— (a) any register of the birth, baptism, death, burial or marriage of any person appointed or to be appointed a nominee under this Part of this Act, or any copy or certificate of any such register, or the name of any witness to any such certificate; (b) any declaration, warrant, order, or other instrument, or any affidavit required to be made by this Part of this Act or by the Commissioners under any authority given to them for that purpose; (c) any certificate of any justice of the peace or magistrate of any such affidavit having been taken before him, or any certificate or order of any officer of the Commissioners; (d) any certificate of any person authorised under this Part of this Act to grant any certificate of the life or death of any nominee; (e) any certificate or order of any cashier or clerk of the Bank of England; (f) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (g) the name of any person on any transfer or acceptance of any such annuity . . . in the books of the Commissioners; (h) the name of any person on any receipt or discharge for any such annuity, or on any receipt or discharge for any payment due or to become due thereon; (i) the name of any person on any letter of attorney or other authority or instrument authorising the transfer or acceptance . . . of any annuity under the provisions of this Part of this Act, or authorising the receipt of any such annuity, or any payment due, or to become due thereon; he shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for life.

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35 Recovery and application of penalties.

(1) All pecuniary penalties and forfeitures imposed by this Part of this Act (other than fines recoverable summarily) shall be recoverable by information in the High Court or as respects Scotland in the name of the Lord Advocate in the Court of Session. (2) Every such penalty or forfeiture shall be paid into the Exchequer. (3) It shall be lawful for the Commissioners to cause such reward as they think fit, not exceeding one-half of any such penalty or forfeiture so recovered, after deducting all charges and expenses incurred in recovering it, to be paid to any person who may appear to them to be entitled thereto as informer.

36 Repeals and Savings.

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) This Part of this Act shall apply to all annuities granted before and in force at the commencement of this Act under any enactment so repealed as if they had been granted under this Part of this Act, and where a person entitled to an annuity granted before the commencement of this Act purchases an annuity under this Part of this Act depending on the life of the same nominee as the former annuity, the annuity so purchased shall be added to the former annuity, and the two shall be treated as a single annuity depending on the life of such nominee, as if both annuities had been granted under this Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) All regulations and tables made under any enactment so repealed shall continue in force and have effect as if they had been made under this Act. (4) All powers of attorney and other instruments in respect of any annuity granted under any enactment so repealed, or in respect of an application for any such annuity, executed before the commencement of this Act, shall continue in force and have the same validity as if this Act had not been passed.

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41 Security for, and payment of, annuities and insurances.

(1) All immediate savings bank annuities shall be charged on the National Loans Fund and issued thereout . . . at such times as the Treasury may direct. (2) All deferred savings bank annuities and all savings bank insurances shall be charged on and paid out of the Government Annuities Investment Fund. (3) In the event of any contract for a savings bank annuity or insurance being cancelled or varied in pursuance of this Part of this Act, or any error therein being corrected, the Commissioners may vary the charge on the National Loans Fund, or on the Government Annuities Investment Fund, in such manner as may be necessary for carrying into effect such cancellation, variation or correction, and the Treasury may, if need be, create new securities in lieu of any securities which have been cancelled, and the securities so created shall be charged on the National Loans Fund and payable in like manner and be subject to the same conditions as the securities so cancelled.

42 Times of payment of annuities.

(1) All savings bank annuities shall be payable quarterly on the fifth day of January, the fifth day of April, the fifth day of July, and the fifth day of October, in each year. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) On the expiry of a savings bank annuity by reason of the death of a single nominee or of the survivor of joint nominees, or of either of two joint nominees, a sum equal to one-fourth part of the annuity, over and above all quarterly arrears thereof, shall, if claimed within two years after the death of that nominee, but not otherwise, be payable to the person entitled to the annuity, or to his executors or administrators, as the case may be, at any time after the expiration of thirty days after proof of the death: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) For the purposes of this section the expression “nominee” means a person on whose life the savings bank annuity depends.

43 Mode of payment of annuities and insurances.

All moneys becoming due on account of savings bank annuities and insurances shall be paid to the persons entitled thereto in accordance with regulations made under this Part of this Act.

44 Transfer of annuities and insurances.

(1) A savings bank annuity depending on the life of any person other than the person to whom it is granted may be transferred. (2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, the Commissioners may permit the transfer under such regulations as the Commissioners think fit— (a) of a savings bank annuity granted jointly to two or more persons on the life of one of them, so, however, that the person on whose life the annuity depends is the transferee or one of the transferees; (b) of a savings bank annuity granted to two or more persons on the joint lives of two or more persons, so, however, that all the persons on whose lives the annuity depends, or such of those persons as the Commissioners think fit, are the transferees or included amongst the transferees. (3) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, a savings bank annuity shall not, nor shall any interest therein, be assignable so as to enable the assignee to receive the annuity during the lifetime of the proprietor, except in the case of the bankruptcy of an individual proprietor, in which case the annuity shall become the property of the trustee in bankruptcy; and in the case of such bankruptcy, the Commissioners shall repurchase the annuity according to the value thereof computed upon the tables upon which the annuity was originally purchased, and the receipt of the trustee shall be a sufficient discharge to the Commissioners who shall forthwith cancel the annuity: Provided that in the case of the bankruptcy of one of two or more joint proprietors of a savings bank annuity nothing in this subsection shall prevent his interest therein vesting in the trustee in bankruptcy. (4) Any person entitled to a savings bank insurance may, after having duly paid for two years or upwards premiums thereon, assign his right and interest therein upon payment of such fee and on such conditions as may be fixed by regulations under this Part of this Act, and the assignee shall have all the rights and interests therein, including the right to sue, possessed by the assignor but no greater right or interest.

45 Commutation of insurances for annuities.

(1) Any person entitled to a savings bank insurance shall be entitled to commute it for such life annuity as may be equivalent to the sum payable on death under the insurance on depositing during his lifetime with the Commissioners a direction in writing to that effect, and nominating the person to whom the annuity is to be paid, in a form approved by the Commissioners. (2) The annuity when approved by the Commissioners shall commence on the sixth day of January, the sixth day of April, the sixth day of July, or the sixth day of October, as the case may be, next following the death of the person insured, and the first quarterly payment shall be made in respect of the quarter commencing on that date.

46 Provisions as to surrender of insurance and default in paying premium.

If a person entitled to a savings bank insurance, after having paid the premiums due thereon for a period of not less than two years, desires to surrender his policy, or makes default in the payment of premiums due in respect thereof, the Commissioners, at the option of the person entitled to the policy, shall pay him such sum of money as may be ascertained in accordance with the regulations under this Part of this Act, or shall grant to him such paid-up policy of insurance, or such an immediate or deferred savings bank annuity, as under the tables for the time being in force under this Part of this Act may be equivalent in value to the sum which under this section would be paid to him in money: Provided that this section shall not apply where the insurance was granted on the condition that no portion of the premiums paid are to be returnable.

47 Application of Savings Banks Acts.

Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act and the regulations made thereunder, all enactments for the time being in force relating to savings banks, and all regulations made in pursuance of those enactments, shall, so far as is consistent with the tenour thereof, apply for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and a person to whom a savings bank annuity or insurance has been granted shall be deemed for the purpose of those enactments and regulations to be a depositor in a savings bank: Provided that— (a) nothing in this Act shall exempt any person obtaining or becoming entitled to any savings bank insurance from any estate duty or stamp duty; (b) for the purposes of arbitration references to trustees of savings banks shall, where necessary, be construed as references to the Commissioners.

48 Power to recover money in county courts.

(1) If payment of any sum of money alleged to be due under a savings bank insurance is refused by the Commissioners, the person entitled thereto may, if he thinks fit, instead of proceeding by arbitration in the manner provided by the enactments relating to savings banks as applied by this Part of this Act, take proceedings for recovering the amount claimed against the Commissioners in the county court of the district in which the contract was entered into, or, with the consent of the Commissioners, in the county court within the district of which such person is resident. For the purposes of this section the contract shall be deemed to have been entered into at the place where the insured person resided at the date specified in the contract as the date thereof. (2) A county court in which proceedings may be taken under this section shall have jurisdiction in the matter, and the decision of the court thereon shall be final and shall not be subject to any appeal. (2A) For the purposes of this section, England and Wales is to be treated as the district of the county court in England and Wales. (3) In the application of this section to Scotland references to the sheriff court shall be substituted for references to the county court. (4) In the application of this section to the Islands of Jersey or Guernsey, references to the Royal Courts of those islands, and in the application of this section to the Isle of Man, references to the Common Law Division (Summary Jurisdiction) of the High Court, shall be substituted for references to the county court.

49 Miscellaneous provisions as to annuities and insurances.

(1) Where a savings bank annuity or insurance has been granted to two or more persons they shall be entitled thereto as joint tenants. (2) Where any person entitled to a savings bank annuity or insurance is insane or otherwise incapacitated from acting, then, subject to any regulations made under this Part of this Act, payment of the annuity or insurance may be made at such times and in such sums and to such persons as may seem proper and the receipt of those persons shall be a good discharge.

50 Unclaimed annuities.

The Commissioners shall on the fifth day of January in every year make up an account of all savings bank annuities which have remained unclaimed for the last three years, and all annuities so remaining unclaimed, together with the unclaimed quarterly arrears thereof, and all savings bank annuities which may have expired, and all quarterly arrears thereof, shall cease to be charged upon and shall not be issued out of the fund on which they are charged by this Part of this Act, as from the date from which they have remained so unclaimed or on which they have so expired: Provided that nothing in this section shall prejudice the rights of any person entitled to any unclaimed annuity who may at any subsequent period prove his title to the annuity to the satisfaction of the Commissioners.