Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1956
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PART IV. Additional Benefits. | ||
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Allowance to widow. |
50.—(1) Subject to regulations, a local authority and a male pensionable officer of such authority who is married and whose wife is living may enter into an agreement for the purposes of this section for the benefit of such wife. | |
(2) Subject to regulations, where— | ||
(a) a person has entered into an agreement for the purposes of this section with a local authority, | ||
(b) he dies while he is an officer of that local authority or while an allowance under section 15 of this Act is payable to him by that local authority, and | ||
(c) he is survived by his wife, such wife being the wife for whose benefit the agreement was entered into, | ||
the local authority shall pay to the wife an allowance equal to | ||
(i) in case he was in the service of that local authority at the time of his death, one-third of the allowance that he would have been granted if he had not died but had ceased to hold his office by reason of permanent infirmity of mind or body, or | ||
(ii) in case an allowance under section 15 of this Act is payable to him by that local authority at the time of his death, one-third of that allowance. | ||
(3) An allowance under this section shall, notwithstanding section 60 of this Act, cease to be payable if and when the widow remarries. | ||
(4) An agreement for the purposes of this section shall have effect in accordance with its terms (subject, however, to the regulations) notwithstanding any other provision of this or any other Act. | ||
(5) A local authority shall have a discretion as to whether they will or will not enter into an agreement for the purposes of this section, subject to the proviso that they shall not enter into the agreement unless they are satisfied that the officer is in good health. | ||
(6) In this section “agreement for the purposes of this section” means an agreement that any lump sum or death gratuity that may become payable under this Act to or in respect of the officer concerned shall be diminished by deducting therefrom the appropriate fraction. | ||
(7) In subsection (6) of this section “the appropriate fraction” means— | ||
(a) in a case in which either a lump sum is payable and an allowance under this section may subsequently become payable or a death gratuity and an allowance under this section is payable—such fraction as, at the time when such sum or gratuity becomes payable, stands specified by regulations as the fraction proper for the purposes of this section in that case, and | ||
(b) in any other case—the appropriate one of such fractions (less than the fraction referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection) as, at the time when such sum or gratuity becomes payable, stand specified by regulations as the proper fractions for the purposes of this section in those cases. | ||
(8) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this section and the regulations shall be in such terms as, in the opinion of the Minister, secure that deductions from lump sums and death gratuities are, in general and taking one period with another, not less than sufficient to meet the liabilities of local authorities under such agreements as they may enter into under this section. | ||
(9) As soon as may be after the expiration of ten years from the passing of this Act, and thereafter at intervals of not more than ten years, the Minister shall review the operation of this section and, where appropriate in consequence of any such review, shall amend the regulations under this section. |