(1) Every permanent servant of a council shall effect in manner prescribed in this section with an approved insurance company within such time as may be prescribed an endowment insurance policy maturing at the age of sixty-five years (which shall be the retiring age of all permanent servants coming within the provisions of this Part) or previous death according to the scale of compulsory cover set forth in the Schedule to this Act.
Where and so often as the salary of a permanent servant is increased he shall within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed effect additional insurance for such further amount as will together with the amount for which he is already insured pursuant to this section, if any, equal the amount for which he would have been required to effect insurance if such increased salary had been payable to him at the time the endowment insurance policy subsisting in respect of him was effected or deemed to have been effected pursuant to this section.
(1A) In its application to permanent servants effecting endowment insurance policies as required by subsection (1) after the commencement of the Local Government and Other Authorities (Superannuation) Amendment Act 1959 the said subsection (1) shall be read and construed as if the words “the Schedule” were omitted therefrom and the word and letter “Schedule A” were substituted therefor.
(2) Proposals for insurance under this section shall be lodged with the board by the permanent servants concerned, and as agent for the proponents the board may with the approval of the Minister agree with an approved insurance company or companies for the issue of the policies applied for.
(3) The board may with the like approval arrange with any approved insurance company or companies for the insurance of a group or groups of permanent servants in such manner as to ensure that each permanent servant concerned in any group shall be covered to the extent provided in subsection (1).
The inclusion of any permanent servant under any group insurance policy shall be deemed to be sufficient compliance with subsection (1).
(4)
(a) All such policies shall be handed to and shall be held by the board until the policy moneys are payable, and shall then be delivered to the permanent servant who has been insured or to his personal representatives.
(b) In the event of any permanent servant ceasing to be employed by any council before the policy moneys become payable such person shall be entitled to receive from the board any policy held upon his behalf, subject to payment to the board of any moneys which may have been paid in respect of the premium for any unexpired balance of the then current period covered by such premium, and to the payment to the board of any moneys due by such permanent servant to the council in respect of the policy.
Where any such permanent servant is included in a group policy of insurance the board may arrange with the insurance company or companies concerned to pay to such permanent servant the surrender value of his interest in any such group policy.
The board shall fix and the permanent servant shall pay to the board the part of the premium paid by the board on his behalf for the then current period of the policy attributable to the unexpired portion of that period, and also pay to the board any moneys due by such permanent servant to the council in respect of the policy.
(c) The board shall immediately upon receipt of any such moneys payable to the council pay the same over to the council.
(d) The board, if it sees fit, may arrange with any insurance company or companies with which insurance of any group of permanent servants has been effected under this Act to enable any permanent servant who is a member of such group and who notifies the board that he desires so to do, to continue his insurance in such group after he ceases to be employed by any council provided that he undertakes to pay and pays to the board periodically at the proper times the amount for premiums and other moneys which would have been payable by a council under this Act on the council’s and on his own behalf had he remained in the service of a council.
(e) In the event of the death of a permanent servant during the currency of a policy the policy moneys shall stand charged with the repayment to the board of so much of the premium paid by the board in respect of the current premium period as is fixed by the board as being attributable to the unexpired portion of that period. The board shall before handing any policy to the personal representatives of a deceased permanent servant arrange for the collection of the amount.
(f)
(i) Where a permanent servant ceases to be employed by any council and advises the board that he does not wish to take over or to continue any policy on his life effected under this Act or fails to advise the board of his wishes in this regard within one month after the posting of a notice by the board to his last known address or fails to pay on demand any moneys payable by him to the board, the board may arrange with the insurance company or companies concerned for the cancellation of such policy at such date as the board may decide upon.
The moneys paid by the insurance company or companies concerned shall be paid to the board and applied by it as follows—
(a) firstly, in or towards payment to the board, of any moneys due to it by the permanent servant on any account, and
(b) secondly, in or towards payment of the part of the premium paid for the then current period of the policy attributable to the unexpired portion of that period and any moneys due by the permanent servant to the council in respect of the policy, and
(c) thirdly, in payment of the balance to the permanent servant.
Where any balance so paid to a permanent servant is not equal to the quota of premium or premiums, or contribution or contributions, paid by him in respect of the policy and where the board has received commission from the insurance company or companies concerned in respect of such policy the board from its reserve account may make such payment as it deems equitable to the permanent servant but the amount so payable to the permanent servant together with the balance referred to above shall not exceed the amount of such servant’s quota of premium or premiums, or contribution or contributions, paid by him in respect of the policy.
(ii) Where the policy on the life of a permanent servant to whom this paragraph applies has not been in force for more than one year or for a sufficient time to enable a surrender value to attach to such policy and where the board has received commission from the insurance company or companies concerned in respect of such policy the board from its reserve account may make such payments as it deems equitable to the council last employing such permanent servant and to the permanent servant, but—
(a) the amount payable to the council shall not exceed the amount of the council’s quota of premium or premiums, or contribution or contributions, paid in respect of the policy, and
(b) the amount payable to the permanent servant shall not exceed the amount of such servant’s quota of premium or premiums, or contribution or contributions, paid by him in respect of the policy.
(5) Any permanent servant who has his life insured at the commencement of this Act or upon the provisions of this Act being applied to him or at the commencement of his employment with a council may make arrangements with the board for the acceptance of his subsisting policy in lieu of effecting insurance as provided in subsection (1).
If the board accepts such policy as satisfying the provisions of subsection (1) such permanent servant shall lodge the policy with the board, and thereupon such policy or policies shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be policies effected under subsection (1).
The council’s quota payable as hereinafter defined, in respect of such policy or policies, shall not in any such case be calculated on the premium or premiums actually payable on such policy or policies, but shall be calculated on the rate of premium which would have been payable if a new policy were effected under subsection (1) at the then age of such permanent servant.
(6) No policy effected under this section or any other section of this Act and no bonus declared in respect thereof shall be assigned, transferred, surrendered, mortgaged, charged, or encumbered in any manner whatsoever, so long as the permanent servant concerned is employed by any council.
(7) A policy effected in pursuance of this section shall have the protection afforded by section 4 of the Life, Fire, and Marine Insurance Act 1902 whatever may be the time during which such policy has endured, and section 5 of the said Act shall not apply thereto.
(8) This section applies to every permanent servant employed by a council at or after the commencement of this Act, and not exempted from the obligations of this section by virtue of the provisions of section 7—
Provided that the board may in any special case, on application being made to it as prescribed, if it is of the opinion that it is for the benefit of any permanent servant, exempt such servant from the obligations under this section for a period to be decided by it or postpone the application of the Act to any such permanent servant for such period as may be decided by it.
s 4: Am 1935 No 24, sec 3 (1) (a); 1948 No 33, sec 2 (b); 1959 No 2, sec 2 (1) (b); 1977 No 46, Sch 3 (1).