Contents
1............ Short title [see Note 1]........................................................................ 1
2............ Commencement [see Note 1].............................................................. 1
3............ Interpretation....................................................................................... 1
4............ Increase in pensions payable to prescribed pensioners otherwise than in respect of units 1
5............ Increase in pensions payable in respect of units.................................. 3
6............ Increase in widows’ pensions............................................................. 4
7............ Application of increases to commuted pensions.................................. 5
8............ Application of increases to suspended pensions................................. 6
9............ Re‑employment of pensioners............................................................. 6
10.......... Act does not apply to pension in respect of a child............................. 6
11.......... Increase in pension not payable where pensioner in receipt of pension under the Superannuation Act 6
12.......... Payment of pension increases............................................................. 7
13.......... Application.......................................................................................... 7
The Schedules—First Schedule 8
Second Schedule—Deductions from officers’ pensions 25
Third Schedule—Rate per annum of additional pension 26
Notes 29
An Act to provide for Increases in certain Defence Forces Retirement Pensions
This Act may be cited as the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits (Pension Increases) Act 1961.
This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.
(1) In this Act:
prescribed pensioner means a person to whom, immediately before the commencing date, a pension was payable by virtue of that person having been a contributor or by virtue of section seventy‑three of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948 or of that Act as amended, being a pension that commenced to be payable before the commencement of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1959.
the commencing date means the date of commencement of this Act.
(2) Expressions used in this Act that are also used in the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958 have in this Act, unless the contrary intention appears, the same respective meanings as they have in that Act.
(1) This section applies to a prescribed pensioner to whom the next succeeding section does not apply.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958 shall be deemed to have effect as if:
(a) subsection (2) of section thirty‑eight of that Act provided that, subject to section fifty of that Act, the pension payable to an officer under that section were a pension at such rate set out in column four of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act as is applicable to the officer having regard to the description set out in column one, two or three of that Part that applied to the officer at the date of his retirement;
(b) subsection (3) of section thirty‑nine of that Act provided that the deduction under subsection (2) of that section were a deduction in accordance with the Second Schedule to this Act;
(c) subsection (2) of section forty‑one of that Act provided that, subject to section fifty of that Act, the pension payable to a member under that section were:
(i) a pension at such rate set out in column four of Part II of the First Schedule to this Act as is applicable to the member having regard to the description set out in column one, two or three of that Part that applied to the member at the date of his retirement; and
(ii) in the case of a member who had completed more than twenty year’s service for pension before attaining the retiring age for the rank held by him, additional pension, if any, in accordance with the Third Schedule to this Act for each completed year of service for pension in excess of twenty years;
(d) subsection (2A) of section forty‑eight of that Act provided that the deduction under subsection (2) of that section were a deduction in accordance with the Second Schedule to this Act; and
(e) the reference in the Eighth Schedule to that Act to the amounts of £182 and £91 were references to the amounts of £208 and £104 respectively.
(3) Where the pension payable to a pensioner to whom this section applies would, if the pension were payable to him in accordance with the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958 as that Act is deemed to have effect for the purposes of this section, be payable at a rate higher than the rate at which, but for this section, the pension would be payable, he is entitled to an increase in the rate of the pension to that higher rate.
(4) In the application of this section to a prescribed pensioner to whom additional pension is payable under section forty‑six of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958, there shall be taken into account for the purpose of ascertaining the pension that would have been payable to the pensioner if he had continued to serve until he attained the age of sixty years the amount, if any, by which that pension would have been increased by virtue of the next succeeding section.
(1) This section applies to a prescribed pensioner to whom pension is payable under section forty‑five, subsection (1) of section fifty‑two or subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section fifty‑two of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958.
(2) In this section:
actual unit contribution, in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies, means the number of units in respect of which pension was payable to the pensioner immediately before the commencing date.
actual unit entitlement, in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies, means:
(a) the number of units of pension that, immediately before his retirement, was applicable to him under section twenty‑eight of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948, or of that Act as amended and in force at that time; or
(b) his actual unit contribution;
whichever is the greater.
additional unit entitlement, in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies, means the number of units, if any, by which his adjusted unit entitlement exceeds his actual unit entitlement.
adjusted unit entitlement, in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies, means such number of units set out in column five of the First Schedule to this Act as is applicable to the pensioner having regard to the description set out in column one, two or three of that Schedule that applied to the pensioner at the date of his retirement.
the prescribed rate:
(a) in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies and to whom pension is payable under section forty‑five or subsection (1) of section fifty‑two of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958—means the rate of Thirty‑two pounds ten shillings per annum; and
(b) in relation to a pensioner to whom this section applies and to whom pension is payable under subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section fifty‑two of that Act—means the rate of Sixteen pounds five shillings per annum;
or, where the actual unit contribution of the pensioner is less than his actual unit entitlement, such rate as bears to the rate applicable to him under paragraph (a) or (b) of this definition the same proportion as his actual unit contribution bears to his actual unit entitlement.
(3) Where the adjusted unit entitlement of a pensioner to whom this section applies exceeds his actual unit entitlement, the pensioner is, subject to this Act, entitled to an increase in the pension that is payable to him, being an increase calculated at the prescribed rate in respect of each unit included in his additional unit entitlement.
Where, immediately before the commencing date:
(a) a pension was payable to a person under section fifty‑five of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948, or of that Act as amended, by virtue of that person being the widow of a member who died before retirement but who, if he had retired on the day on which he died and had been in receipt of a pension immediately before the commencing date under subsection (1) of section fifty‑two of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958, would have been entitled to an increase in that pension under this Act;
(b) a pension was payable to a person under subsection (1) of section fifty‑seven of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948, or of that Act as amended, by virtue of that person being the widow of a pensioner who, if he had not died and had been in receipt of his pension immediately before the commencing date, would have been entitled to an increase in that pension under this Act; or
(c) a pension was payable to a person under subsection (3) of section fifty‑seven of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948, or of that Act as amended, by virtue of that person being the widow of a pensioner who, if he had not died and had been in receipt of a pension immediately before the commencing date under subsection (1) of section fifty‑two of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1958, would have been entitled to an increase in that pension under this Act,
the widow is, subject to this Act, entitled to an increase in her pension, being an increase equal to five‑eighths of the increase in pension to which her husband would have been entitled under this Act, but, in ascertaining the increase in pension to which her husband would have been entitled, regard shall not be had to the next succeeding section.
Where a prescribed pensioner who commuted portion of his pension under section seventy‑four of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948 or of that Act as amended is entitled to an increase in the pension under this Act, that increase shall, in lieu of the increase to which, but for this section, he would have been entitled, be an increase that bears to the increase to which he would have been so entitled the same proportion as the rate at which pension was payable to him immediately before the commencing date bears to the rate at which pension would have been payable to him immediately before the commencing date if he had not commuted any portion of his pension.
Where a person would, but for section fifty‑three A of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1959, be a prescribed pensioner for the purposes of this Act, that person shall, upon his pension again becoming payable to him after the commencement of this Act, be entitled to an increase in the pension equal to the increase to which he would have been entitled if he had been a prescribed pensioner.
Where, immediately before the commencing date, subsection (1) or (3) of section sixty‑nine of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1959 applied to a pension payable to a person, the pension payable to that person at that time shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the pension that would have been payable to that person if that subsection had not applied to the pension, but any increase in a pension to which a person is entitled under this section is subject to the operation of that section and, for the purposes of that section in its application to that pension, the increased pension shall be deemed to be payable under that Act.
The increases in pensions provided for by this Act do not apply to or in relation to pension in respect of a child.
(1) An increase in pension provided for by this Act is not payable at any time when the person entitled to the pension is also entitled to pension under the Superannuation Act 1922‑1959.
(2) Where the pension payable to the widow of a prescribed pensioner who dies on or after the commencing date is increased by virtue of the prescribed pensioner having been entitled to an increase in pension under this Act, the increase in the widow’s pension shall, for the purposes of the last preceding subsection, be deemed to be an increase provided for by this Act.
(1) The reference in subsection (1) of section fifteen B of the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Act 1948‑1959 to benefits under that Act shall be read as including a reference to increases in pensions payable under this Act.
(2) The Commonwealth shall pay to the Defence Forces Retirement Benefits Fund amounts equal to the amounts by which payments of pensions (including pensions that become payable to widows of prescribed pensioners who die on or after the commencing date) are increased by virtue of this Act, and the Consolidated Revenue Fund is, to the necessary extent, appropriated accordingly.
Increases in pensions payable by virtue of this Act have effect from and including the first fortnightly payment of pensions made after the commencing date.