1935 10 04
Payment of Pensions weekly (was Quarterly)
At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 3rd day of October, 1935.

Present, The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Memorial from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, dated the 20th day of September, 1935 (P.M. 2202/35), in the words following, viz. :-

Whereas by Section 3 of the Naval and Marine Pay and Pensions Act, 1865, it is enacted, inter alia, that all pay, pensions or other allowances in the nature thereof payable in respect of services in Your Majesty's Naval or Marine Force to a person being or having been an Officer, Seaman or Marine therein shall be paid in such manner and subject to such restrictions, conditions and provisions as are from time to time directed by Order in Council:

And whereas the Regulations for the government of Your Majesty's Naval Service provide for the payment of Naval Pensions quarterly in advance or at such periods as we may authorise; for the payment of pensions to the end of the quarter in which death occurs; and, where the pensioner dies within two days from the end of the quarter, for the special grant to the widow, at our discretion, of a month's pension:

And whereas Your Majesty was graciously pleased, by Your Order in Council bearing date the 7th day of November, 1924, to sanction, inter alia, the scales and conditions of award of pensions to widows and of allowances to the children and certain other dependent relatives of Petty Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines and of the Reserve Forces whose deaths occur and are directly attributable to the conditions of service subsequent to the 30th day of September, 1921, and to direct that, whilst the date of commencement of any such pensions or allowances shall be as the Admiralty may determine, such date shall, as a rule, be that following the date of the Seaman's and Marine's death or, if later, the date following that to which any marriage allowance has been paid to his family:

And whereas we have decided, in the exercise of our discretion, to introduce, from the 1st day of January, 1938, a system of weekly payment of Naval pensions in advance, in gradual substitution for the present quarterly system, and to apply the weekly system to existing and future pensioners under the following conditions, namely:-

1. Subject to certain reservations, payment of pension on a weekly basis to be compulsory for men and boys entered, or re-entered after a break in service, in Your Majesty's Naval or Marine Forces on or after the 1st day of August, 1935, and for those, entered prior to that date, who, on the 30th day of September, 1935, were not already serving in the final term of engagement which would qualify them for a pension on discharge.
2. Payment of pension on a weekly basis to be optional for all other men and boys including those awarded pension from a date prior to the 1st day of January, 1936.

And whereas we are of opinion that it is desirable to allow certain men and boys whose naval pensions are, whether by option or otherwise, payable on a weekly basis, to receive certain pensionary benefits allowable under the quarterly system of payment of naval pensions; to increase, when computing naval pensions for payment on a weekly basis, any fraction of a penny in the total weekly rate, as assessable under the Regulations, to a penny; and to amend, in certain respects, the rule governing the commencing date of any pension or allowance which may become payable to the widow or other dependent relative of a Seaman or Royal Marine.

We beg leave humbly to recommend that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased by Your Order in Council:

1. To sanction the continuance of the following pensionary benefits, viz.:- payment of pension to the end of the quarter in which the pensioner dies, and the special grant to the pensioner's widow, at Admiralty discretion, of a month's pension in advance when the pensioner's death occurs within two days from the end of the quarter, for all men and boys who finally entered Your Majesty's Naval or Marine Forces before the 1st day of August, 1935, and others awarded pensions commencing before the 1st day of January, 1936, whose pensions are in course of payment on a weekly basis at the time of death;
2. To authorise the increase, when computing naval pensions for payment on a weekly basis, of any fraction of a penny in the total weekly rate, as assessable under the Regulations, to a penny; and
3. To direct that any pension or allowance which may become payable to the widow or other dependent relative of a naval pensioner who is, at the time of death, in receipt of pension paid on a weekly basis, shall not commence before the date of expiry of the period covered by the last payment of his pension or by the special grant of a month's pension which may be made to his widow.

The Lords Commissioners of Your Majesty's Treasury have signified their concurrence in these proposals.

His Majesty, having taken the said Memorial into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, to approve of what is therein proposed.

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly.
M. P. A. Hankey.

� Crown Copyright

^ back to top ^