{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-act-2006/schedule-14/paragraph-54",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-act-2006/schedule-14/paragraph-54.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2006/52",
  "legislation_title": "Armed Forces Act 2006",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-act-2006",
  "path": "schedule/14/paragraph/54",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "54",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "(1) Schedule 1 to that Act (enlistment) is amended as follows.\n(2) For paragraph 2(1) substitute—\n“(1) An enlisting officer shall not enlist a person under the age of 18 unless consent to the enlistment has been given in writing by—\n(a) an appropriate person; or\n(b) if the person offering to enlist is living with more than one appropriate person, each of those appropriate persons.\n(1A) In this paragraph “appropriate person” means, in relation to a person offering to enlist, a person with—\n(a) parental responsibility (within the meaning of the Children Act 1989 or the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995) for him; or\n(b) parental responsibilities (within the meaning of section 1(3) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995) in relation to him.”\n(3) In paragraph 2(2) for “appropriate minimum age” substitute “ age of 18 ”.\n(4) In paragraph 4(4) for “appropriate minimum age” substitute “ age of 18 ”.\n(5) In paragraph 5—\n(a) in sub-paragraph (1) omit “or recklessly”;\n(b) in sub-paragraph (2) for “subject to service law” substitute “ a member of the reserve forces ”;\n(c) in sub-paragraph (3) for the words from “has since” to the end substitute “ becomes a member of the reserve forces is liable on conviction by the Court Martial to any punishment mentioned in rows 2 to 12 of the Table in section 164 of the Armed Forces Act 2006. ”;\n(d) after that sub-paragraph add—\n“(4) For the purposes of determining the Court Martial's powers when sentencing an offender to whom Part 2 of Schedule 3 to the Armed Forces Act 2006 (ex-servicemen etc) applies for an offence under sub-paragraph (1), sub-paragraph (3) has effect as if the reference to rows 2 to 12 were to rows 2 to 10.\n(5) Where an offence under sub-paragraph (1) is committed by a person within sub-paragraph (3), the time for which he is for the purposes of section 62 of the Armed Forces Act 2006 (time limits for charging) to be regarded as being a relevant reservist (within the meaning of that section) includes the period from (and including) the time he committed the offence to the time he became a member of the reserve forces.”\n(6) In paragraph 6(1) for “a court-martial” substitute “ the Court Martial ”.\n(7) Omit paragraph 7 and the heading before it.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Sch. 14 para. 54 in force at 28.3.2009 for specified purposes by S.I. 2009/812, art. 3(a)(b) (with transitional provisions in S.I. 2009/1059)"
    },
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I2",
      "text": "Sch. 14 para. 54 in force at 31.10.2009 in so far as not already in force by S.I. 2009/1167, art. 4"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/52/schedule/14/paragraph/54",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:13:24.063324+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}