# The National Health Service (Compensation) Regulations 1974, Regulation 2: Interpretation


(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973;
“the Acts” means the National Health Service Act 1946 and the Act;
“accrued pension”, in relation to a pensionable officer who has suffered loss of employment, means—
(a) if his last relevant pension scheme provided benefits in which he had a right to participate, the pension to which he would have become entitled under that scheme in respect of his pensionable service according to the method of calculation (modified where necessary for the purpose of giving effect to these regulations) prescribed by that scheme if, at the date on which he ceased to be subject to that scheme, he had attained normal retiring age and complied with any requirement of that scheme as to a minimum period of qualifying service or contribution and completed any additional contributory payments or payments in respect of added years which he was in the course of making; and
(b) in any other case, such portion of the pension (if any) of which he had reasonable expectations as the Secretary of State considers equitable;
“accrued retiring allowance”, in relation to a pensionable officer who has suffered loss of employment, means—
(a) if his last relevant pension scheme provided benefits in which he had a right to participate, any lump sum payment to which he would have become entitled under that scheme in respect of his pensionable service according to the method of calculation (modified where necessary for the purpose of giving effect to these regulations) prescribed by that scheme, if at the date on which he ceased to be subject to that scheme, he had attained normal retiring age and complied with any requirement of that scheme as to a minimum period of qualifying service or contribution and completed any additional contributory payments or payments in respect of added years which he was in the course of making; and
(b) in any other case, such portion of the lump sum payment (if any) of which he had reasonable expectations as the Secretary of State considers equitable;
“accrued incapacity pension” and “accrued incapacity retiring allowance” have the same respective meanings as “accrued pension” and “accrued retiring allowance” except that the reference to a person's attaining normal retiring age shall be construed as a reference to his becoming incapable of discharging efficiently the duties of his employment by reason of permanent ill-health or infirmity of mind or body;
“added years”, in relation to a person who suffers loss of employment, means any additional years of service reckonable by him under his last relevant pension scheme, being additional years which were being purchased partly at the expense of the employer and partly at the expense of the person under arrangements which were entered into before the employer either informed him in writing that his employment was to be terminated or was likely to be terminated or gave him written notice of termination of his employment;
“additional contributory payments” means—
(a) additional contributory payments within the meaning of the National Health Service (Superannuation) Regulations 1961, as amended; or
(b) any similar payments made under the last relevant pension scheme as a condition of—
(i) reckoning any period of employment as service or as a period of contribution for the purposes of the scheme; or
(ii) reckoning non-contributing service as contributing service (which expressions have the same meaning as in the scheme) for the purposes of the scheme; or
(iii) increasing the length at which any period of service or of contribution would be reckonable for the purpose of calculating a benefit under the scheme;
“annual rate”, in relation to the emoluments of an employment which has been lost or emoluments which have been diminished, means the annual rate of those emoluments immediately before the loss or diminution, as the case may be;
“compensation question” means a question arising under these regulations—
(a) as to a person's entitlement to compensation for loss of employment, or for loss or diminution of emoluments; or
(b) as to the manner of a person's employment or the comparability of his duties;
“emoluments” means all salary, wages, fees and other payments paid or made to an officer as such for his own use, and also the money value of any accommodation or other allowances in kind appertaining to his employment, but does not include payments for overtime which are not a usual incident of his employment, or any allowances payable to him to cover the cost of providing officer accommodation or clerical or other assistance, or any travelling or subsistence allowance or other moneys to be spent, or to cover expenses incurred, by him for the purposes of his employment; and where fees or other variable payments were paid to an officer as part of his emoluments during any period immediately preceding the loss or diminution, the amount in respect of fees or other variable payments to be included in the annual rate of emoluments shall be the annual average of the fees or other payments paid to him during the period of 3 years immediately preceding the loss or diminution, or such other period as the Secretary of State may think reasonable in the circumstances;
“last relevant pension scheme”, in relation to a pensionable officer, means the pension scheme to which he was subject immediately before suffering loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments;
“long-term compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of Part IV of these regulations for loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments;
“material date”, in relation to any person who has suffered loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments which is attributable to any cause mentioned in regulation 4, means—
(a) in the case of loss or diminution which is attributable to any provision of the Act, 1st April 1974;
(b) in any other case, the date on which the instrument was made;
or the date on which the loss or diminution occurred, whichever is the earlier;
“minimum pensionable age”, in relation to a pensionable officer, means the earliest age at which, under his last relevant pension scheme, he could have become entitled to receive payment of an unreduced pension solely by virtue of his having attained a specified age and completed a specified period of service;
“national service”, in relation to any person, means service which is compulsory national service or relevant service within the meaning of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act 1951 and any similar service immediately following such service entered into with the consent of the authority or person under whom an officer held his last relevant employment;
“normal retiring age” means, in the case of a pensionable officer to whom an age of compulsory retirement applied by virtue of any enactment to which he was subject in the employment which he has lost or the emoluments of which have been diminished or by virtue of the conditions of that employment, that age, and in any other case, the age of 65 if the officer is a male, or 60 if the officer is a female;
“pensionable officer”, in relation to a person who has suffered loss of employment or loss or diminution of emoluments, means a person who immediately before such loss or diminution was subject to a pension scheme associated with the employment he has lost, or as the case may be, the employment in which his emoluments have been diminished;
“pensionable service”, in relation to a pensionable officer, means service in respect of which he has become entitled to receive (whether immediately or prospectively on attaining some greater age) a benefit under his last relevant pension scheme;
“pension scheme”, in relation to a pensionable officer, means any form of arrangement associated with his employment for the payment of superannuation benefits, whether subsisting by virtue of any enactment, trust, contract or otherwise;
“reckonable service”, in relation to a person, means any period of whole-time or part-time employment in any relevant employment and includes any period of national service or war service undertaken on his ceasing to hold such an employment, but does not include employment in respect of which he has or will become entitled (whether immediately or prospectively on attaining some greater age) to a benefit from a pension scheme other than his last relevant pension scheme;
“relevant employment” means employment—
(a) under the Crown or by any person, authority or body for the purposes of the Crown;
(b) by any authority or body specified in regulation 3(1) or by any corresponding authority or body in Scotland;
(c) in local government service;
(d) preceding any of the foregoing employment which was reckonable for the purposes of the last relevant pension scheme; or
(e) in such other service as the Secretary of State may, in the case of any named officer, approve;
but, except for national service and war service, does not include service in the armed forces of the Crown;
“resettlement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of Part III of these regulations for loss of employment;
“retirement compensation” means compensation payable in accordance with the provisions of regulation 17, 18 or 19;
“scheme authority”, in relation to any person, means the authority administering the pension scheme, fund or account;
“Secretary of State” means Secretary of State for Social Services;
“tribunal” means a tribunal established under section 12 of the Industrial Training Act 1964;
“war service” means war service within the meaning of the Local Government Staffs (War Service) Act 1939, the Teachers Superannuation (War Service) Act 1939, the Education (Scotland) (War Service Superannuation) Act 1939 or the Police and Firemen (War Service) Act 1939 or employment for war purposes within the meaning of the Superannuation Schemes (War Service) Act 1940 if such service or employment immediately followed a period of relevant employment and was undertaken either compulsorily or with the permission of the employer in that employment.
(2) The holder of any office, appointment, place, situation or employment shall, for the purposes of these regulations, be regarded as an officerplace, situation or employment, and the expressions “officer” and “employment” shall be construed accordingly.
(3) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, references to any enactment shall be construed as references thereto as amended, re-enacted, applied or modified by any subsequent enactment.
(4) References in these regulations to a numbered regulation shall, unless the reference is to a regulation of specified regulations, be construed as references to the regulation bearing that number in these regulations.
(5) References in any regulation of these regulations to a numbered paragraph shall, unless the reference is to a paragraph of a specified regulation, be construed as references to the paragraph bearing that number in the first mentioned regulation.
(6) The Interpretation Act 1889 shall apply to the interpretation of these regulations as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1974/1748/regulation/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-compensation-regulations-1974/regulation-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.