Government Annuities Act 1929

51 Power of Commissioners to act through medium of Post Office and trustee savings banks.

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52 Regulations.

(1) 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 any savings bank annuity 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 those regulations shall be valid notwithstanding anything in this or any other Act to the contrary. (2) The Commissioners, with the concurrence of the Treasury, may make regulations for carrying out the provisions of this Part of this Act, . . . ; and for the execution of contracts on behalf of the Commissioners by officers appointed for the purpose by the Commissioners, . . . and the regulations so made shall provide— (a) For proofs of age, identity, state of health, and such other matters as appear necessary or proper for the grant of annuities and insurances, and, in the case of an insurance for such sum not exceeding twenty-five pounds as may be fixed by the regulations, for diminishing the amount to be paid to the insured in the event of any regulation as to medical certificates or any other matters having been dispensed with; and (b) For regulating the time and mode of making the payments to obtain savings bank annuities and insurances, and enabling them to be made out of the deposits in a savings bank; and (c) For crediting the accounts of depositors in a savings bank with sums due in respect of savings bank annuities or insurances; and (d) For regulating the mode of payment of savings bank annuities and insurances and the receipts to be given for the same; and (e) For cancelling or varying contracts for the grant of annuities and insurances and correcting errors arising on any such grant; and (f) For enabling a person to whom an insurance is granted to nominate a person to whom the money due under the insurance, not exceeding one hundred pounds, is to be paid, and for the discharge to be given therefor; and (g) In the case of minors under the age of twenty-one years, for the making of contracts, the making of payments to obtain savings bank annuities and insurances out of the deposits in savings banks, the giving of receipts, and the doing of other acts, on their behalf; and the contracts and payments so made, the receipts so given, and the acts so done, shall be valid and binding on the minor . . . ; (h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) Regulations made under this section, other than those made under subsection (1) thereof, shall be laid before Parliament, . . ..

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54 Application and investment of sums paid for annuities or insurances.

(1) All sums paid for savings bank . . . insurances shall be paid into the Bank of England or the Bank of Ireland to the account of the Commissioners, and there carried to such account or accounts and under such title or titles as the Commissioners direct, but current outgoings as hereinafter defined may be defrayed thereout, either before or after payment into the bank. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3) All moneys received by the Commissioners . . . for savings bank insurances, shall, subject as aforesaid, be paid into the Government Annuities Investment Fund . . . (4) The expression “current outgoings” includes all sums payable by the Commissioners in respect of savings bank annuities or insurances, and also all such expenses of carrying into effect this Part of this Act as are payable out of the sums paid by persons for savings bank . . . insurances. All expenses incurred by any savings bank . . . in the execution of this Part of this Act to such amount as may be from time to time allowed by the Commissioners (subject to the directions of the Treasury) shall be paid by the Commissioners, . . .

55 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 savings bank 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.

56 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 a savings bank annuity, the production of 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.

57 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 savings bank annuity, 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.

58 Exemption of certain documents from stamp duty.

No stamp duty shall be payable in respect of— (a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (c) any certificate or other instrument respecting the payment of money for a savings bank . . . insurance; or (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

59 Provisions as to warrants.

(1) Where any savings bank annuities are payable by warrants of the Commissioners the warrants 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 throught 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 section 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.

60 Trusts not to be recognised.

No notice of any trust, express, implied or constructive, affecting any savings bank annuity or insurance (except such trusts as are for the time being recognised by law in relation to deposits in savings banks, and except such trusts as are provided for by section eleven of the Married Women’s Property Act 1882, or any other enactment relating to the property of married women) shall be entered upon any contract for such annuity or insurance, or in any deposit book relating thereto, nor shall any such notice be receivable by the Commissioners or any savings bank.

61 Punishment for fraudulently receiving annuity or insurance.

(1) If any person receives any payment in respect of any savings bank annuity after the death of the person at whose death the annuity is to cease, or receives the amount of any insurance payable at the death of a person before the death of that person, he shall be liable to pay to the Commissioners double the amount of the sum received with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent. per annum from the date of the receipt, recoverable in a county court “ in Northern Ireland or the county court in England and Wales ” or any other competent court. (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

62 Punishment for false declarations, &c.

(1) If any one person by his own act holds or claims to be entitled to any savings bank annuities or insurances, which exceed in the whole the maximum annuity or insurance allowed by this Part of this Act to be granted to any one person, such person shall be liable, in the discretion of the Commissioners, to forfeit the whole or any part of such annuities or insurances. (2) Any person who makes a false declaration in relation to any matter or thing required by this Part of this Act, or by the regulations made thereunder, or produces any false declaration or certificate, shall be liable, in the discretion of the Commissioners, to forfeit the whole or any part of the savings bank annuity or insurance to which the false declaration or certificate related, or for the purpose of obtaining which it was made or produced, and all or any part of the money paid for obtaining the annuity or insurance, or the Commissioners may, in lieu of all or any part of such forfeiture, adjust the contract made by such person so as to be in accordance with what it would have been if the false declaration or certificate had not been made or produced. (3) If, in . . . Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, a person makes any such false declaration as aforesaid knowing the same to be false in any material particular, he shall, in addition to such forfeiture, be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months. (4) If, in . . . Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, a person in any declaration for purposes of this Part of this Act before any justice of the peace, magistrate, or officer of the Commissioners, wilfully makes any false statement or declaration, he shall be liable on conviction to be punished as if he were guilty of perjury.

63 Forgery.

If, in Scotland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, a person forges or with intent to defraud utters to any person acting under the authority of this Act:— (a) Any register of birth, baptism, death or burial, required under the provisions of 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 required to be taken for any of the purposes of this Part of this Act; (c) Any certificate of any justice of the peace or magistrate of any such declaration having been taken before him or any certificate of any officer of the Commissioners; (d) Any certificate of any person authorised under this Part of this Act to grant a certificate of the life or death of any annuitant; (e) Any certificate of any cashier or clerk of the Bank of England or Bank of Ireland; (f) The name of any person on any certificate or other instrument for the payment of money for the purchase of any annuity or insurance under the provisions of this Part of this Act; (g) 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, or for any sum payable under any insurance under the provisions of this Part of this Act; (h) The name of any person on any certificate or other instrument authorising the receipt of any life annuity . . . of whatsoever kind, or sum payable under any insurance, granted under this Part of this Act, or any payment due or to become due thereon; he shall be liable on conviction to the like punishment as if he had been convicted of forgery.

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66 Repeals and savings.

(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) This Part of this Act shall apply to all savings bank annuities and insurances granted before, and in force at, the commencement of this Act under any enactment repealed by this section, or any similar previous enactment, as if they had been granted under this Act: Provided that— (a) Nothing in this section shall affect the validity of any such annuity or insurance or the terms and conditions on which it was granted, ... (b) This Part of this Act shall apply to a savings bank annuity granted under any such repealed enactment before the eleventh day of October, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, subject to the modifications set forth in Part II of the Third Schedule to this Act. (3) All regulations and tables made under any enactment repealed by this section shall continue in force and have effect as if they had been made under this Part of this Act. (4) All powers of attorney and other instruments executed for the purpose of any savings bank annuity or insurance before, and in force at, the commencement of this Act shall continue in force and have the same validity as if this Act had not been passed.

67 Provisions as to fund established under 27 & 28 Vict. c. 46.

(1) All moneys . . . which . . . form part of the Government Annuities Investment Fund, . . . , shall be held by the Commissioners applicable to meet the claims of such deferred annuities and insurances as are made payable thereout under this Act. (2), (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) An account of all moneys . . . paid into the fund and of the disposal thereof, and of all contracts for the grant of deferred annuities and insurances charged on the fund made in any calendar year, shall be laid before Parliament not later than the thirty-first day of March next following, showing— (a) the amount of receipts during the year on contracts; (b) the number and amount of payments made on account of contracts during the year; (c) the amount of expenses during the year; (d) the number and amount of new contracts entered into; (e) the total number and amount of all current contracts at the end of the year; (f) the whole amount of capital . . . ; (g) the average rate of interest received upon each class of investments; (h) the table of mortality and the rate of interest used in calculating the premiums. (5) The Commissioners shall prepare and transmit to the Treasury at the end of every five years a statement of the result of a valuation of the engagements entered into and the liabilities incurred during the preceding five years, and the assets applicable to meet the same, and if it appears that the amount of the liabilities is greater than that of the assets, the Treasury shall charge the deficiency upon the Consolidated Fund, and if it appears that the value of the assets is more than sufficient to discharge the liabilities, the Treasury shall direct that there be cancelled out of the securities held by the Commissioners an amount not exceeding four-fifths of that surplus. (6) The Treasury shall, upon being satisfied at any time that the assets are not sufficient to meet the liabilities and upon a certificate to that effect under the hand of the Comptroller-General acting under the Commissioners, direct such sums to be issued out of the Consolidated Fund . . . as may be necessary to meet the liabilities: Provided that no such sums shall be issued as, taken together, exceed the amount charged upon the Consolidated Fund under this section.

68 Powers of Comptroller-General and Assistant Comptroller.

Anything under this Act required or authorised to be done to by or in respect of the Commissioners may be done to by or in respect of the Comptroller-General or Assistant Comptroller acting under the Commissioners, and anything under this Act authorised to be done by the Comptroller-General, may be done by the Assistant Comptroller.

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70 Short title, commencement and extent.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Government Annuities Act 1929 . . . (2) This Act shall extend to Northern Ireland. (3) This Act shall extend to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and the Royal Courts of the Channel Islands shall register it accordingly.

FIRST SCHEDULES . . .

SECOND SCHEDULES . . .

THIRD SCHEDULE

Part II Modifications with respect to Savings Banks Annuities granted before the Eleventh day of October, Nineteen hundred and twenty-four. The annuities shall continue payable half-yearly on the fifth day of January and on the fifth day of July, or on the fifth day of April and the tenth day of October in each year, as the case may be; and references to quarterly days of payment and quarterly arrears shall be construed as references to such half-yearly days of payment and half-yearly arrears.