Reserve Forces Act 1996

7(1)Sections 4 (postponement of transfer to Royal Fleet Reserve or discharge) and 5 (continuation of service in Royal Navy in imminent national danger) of the [1966 c. 45.] Armed Forces Act 1966 shall be amended as follows.

(2)For subsections (1) to (4) of section 4 there shall be substituted the following subsections—

“(1)This section applies to a rating if, on the relevant date, a call-out order under section 52, 54 or 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 is in force authorising the call out for permanent service of members of the Royal Fleet Reserve.

For the purposes of this section, “the relevant date”, in relation to a rating, means the date on which he would, apart from this section, fall to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve or he would be entitled to be discharged, as the case may be.

(1A)A rating to whom this section applies may be retained in service in the Royal Navy after the relevant date in accordance with this section for such period as the competent authority may order, and his service may be prolonged accordingly.

(1B)The period for which a rating may be retained in service after the relevant date by virtue of this section shall be limited as follows, that is to say—

(a)a rating who would otherwise have fallen to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve may not be retained for longer than the period for which, if the assumptions mentioned in subsection (1C) below are made in relation to him, he could have been required to serve on being called out under Part VI of the Reserve Forces Act 1996; or

(b)a rating who would otherwise have been discharged may not be retained for longer than twelve months;

and a rating who is retained in service is (if not transferred or discharged sooner) entitled to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve or discharged, as the case may require, at the end of whichever of the above periods applies to him.

(1C)The assumptions to be made in relation to a rating for the purposes of subsection (1B)(a) above are that—

(a)he was transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve in time to be called out for permanent service starting on the relevant date; and

(b)he was so called out on the authority of the call-out order which justified his retention in service. ”

(3)After subsection (6) of section 4 there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(6A)Where a rating is retained in service by virtue of this section but would otherwise have fallen to be transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve—

(a)any period for which he is liable to serve in the Royal Fleet Reserve after the completion of his service in the Royal Navy shall be reduced by the period for which he is so retained; and

(b)the period for which he is so retained shall be treated as a period of relevant service for the purposes of any provision of Part IV, V, VI or VII of the Reserve Forces Act 1996. ”

(4)Subsection (9) of section 4 shall cease to have effect.

(5)In subsection (1) of section 5, for the words from “men” to the end there shall be substituted the words “a call-out order under section 52 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 authorising the call out of members of the Royal Fleet Reserve is in force”.