Advanced Search

Chapter 27:10 - Public Officers (Insurance)

Subscribe to a Global-Regulation Premium Membership Today!

Key Benefits:

Subscribe Now for only USD$40 per month.
L.R.O. 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
PUBLIC OFFICERS (INSURANCE) ACT
CHAPTER 27:10
Act
41 of 1902
Amended by
41 of 1903
12 of 1923 14 of 1925
31 of 1928 2 of 1933
4 of 1972 19 of 1990
Current Authorised Pages
Pages
(inclusive)
Authorised
by L.R.O.
1 – 17 ... 1/2012
LAWS OF GUYANA
2 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012
Index
of
Subsidiary Legislation
Page
Public Officers (Insurances) Rules 14
(R.31/3/1934 and 2/8/1934)

LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 3
L.R.O. 1/2012
CHAPTER 27:10
PUBLIC OFFICERS (INSURANCE) ACT
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
SECTION
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Obligation on officers to insure their lives.
4. Additions to previous insurances on promotion.
5. Terms of insurance.
6. Sum to be assured.
7. Moneys for payment of premium.
8. Policy to be effected in favour of Accountant-General.
9. Public officer retiring on pension to have option of continuing to pay
premiums or have a fully paid-up policy.
10. Act to cease to apply to any insurance of an officer after retirement
under certain circumstances.
11. When public officer may exercise option of having policy assigned to
him, or having a fully paid-up policy.
12. Receipt and application of policy moneys.
13. When officer is unable to insure his life.
14. Surplus moneys after payment of premium to be refunded to officer.
15. Provision for officers assured otherwise than under this Act.
16. Vacation of office through failing to insure.
17. Freedom of Government from liability.
18. Public officer may insure for a larger sum than is required under
previous sections of Act.
19. This Act not to apply to persons on unfixed establishment.
20. Officers on unfixed establishment not to effect insurance.
21. (1) When unmarried public officer may have policy transferred to him.
(4)Divorced officer to be considered unmarried.
22. Act not to apply to female public officers
__________________________

LAWS OF GUYANA
4 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012
1929 Ed.
c. 201
1953 Ed.
c. 71 _______________________________________________________
41 of 1902 An Act to make provision for the Widows and Orphans of
Public Officers by requiring such Officers to insure
their own lives.
[31ST DECEMBER, 1902]
Short title.
Interpretation.
[4 of 1972]

Obligation on
officers to
insure their
lives.
1. This Act may be cited as the Public Officers
(Insurance) Act.
2. For the purposes of this Act—
“Public officer” or “officer” means any person not a
contributor to the Widows and Orphans fund of Guyana,
appointed to any public office which—
(a) is for the time being of a permanent
character; and
(b) has attached to it a salary at the rate of
not less than one thousand dollars per
annum derived from the
Consolidated Fund, or from the fees
of his department.
3. (1) Save as hereinbefore provided every public
officer shall, in accordance with this Act, insure and keep
insured his life.
(2) Where the Minister is satisfied that sufficient
provision has been already made for the wife and children (if
any) of an officer, he may in his discretion and subject to any
conditions prescribed by him dispense that officer from all or
any of the provisions of this Act.
CHAPTER 27:10
PUBLIC OFFICERS (INSURANCE) ACT
LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 5
L.R.O. 1/2012

Addition to
previous
insurances on
promotion.

Terms of
insurance.

Sum to be
assured.
Moneys for
payment of
premium.
4. Every public officer whose life is insured under this
Act, as often as he is promoted to an office in a higher class or
to an office which, not being in any class specified in the
annual estimates, is of a higher salary than that previously
held by him, shall effect an additional insurance of his life.
5. Every insurance under this Act shall be effected in
the manner and on the terms approved by the Minister, who
shall have power to make rules for that purpose.

6. The whole of the sum available under this Act shall
be applied as nearly as may be in payment of the annual
premiums on the insurance to be so effected.
7. (1) A sum equal to four per cent on his annual
salary at the time when the obligation to insure first arises, or
if his annual salary be one increasing by regular increments,
then a sum of four per cent on the maximum salary he will
attain by length of service, shall in each and every year after
the obligation arises be deducted by the Accountant- General
by equal monthly instalments from the salary of every
public officer obliged to insure under this Act, and, whenever
the obligation to effect an additional insurance arises under
section 4, the sum to be thereafter deducted shall be increased
so as to equal four per cent of the annual salary received by
the officer at the time the obligation arises.
(2) Every officer shall effect his insurance at the
end of the first year after the liability to insure first arises, and
the amount so deducted as aforesaid from the officer’s salary
shall be applied by the Accountant-General in payment of the
first premium payable in respect of the officer’s insurance;
and the amount so deducted as aforesaid from the officer’s
salary in each succeeding year shall be in like manner applied
in payment of the second and succeeding premiums payable
in respect of the insurance:

LAWS OF GUYANA
6 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012

Policy to be
effected in
favour of
Accountant-
General.
Public officer
retiring on
pension to have
option of
continuing to
pay premiums
or have a fully
paid-up policy.
Provided that any officer, if he so pleases, may effect
his insurance at any time before the end of the first year as
aforesaid, and in that case he shall pay to the Accountant-
General such sum as, with the amount of any deductions
already made as aforesaid from his salary, is required to
pay the first premium on his insurance, and the Accountant-
General shall apply the sum, together with the amount
of the deductions in payment of the first premium; and
the amount so deducted as aforesaid from the officer’s salary
in that and succeeding years shall be applied in like manner
in payment of the second and succeeding premiums payable
in respect of the insurance.
8. (1) In every case the policy of an insurance effected
under this Act shall be effected in favour of the Accountant-
General and his successors in office, and shall so continue
until the policy moneys secured thereby have been received
by him and are absolutely free and discharged from any
liability of the officer in respect of whom the insurance is
effected.
(2) On any change in the officer discharging the
duties of Accountant-General no assignment shall be
necessary to transfer the policy to and vest it in his successor.

9. (1) Any public officer whose life is insured under
this Act, and who retires from the public service on a
pension, shall have the option—
(a) of continuing to pay the premiums on
his policy, the Accountant-General for
that purpose deducting or causing to
be deducted from his pension the
amounts necessary for paying those
premiums; or
(b) of having the policy converted by the
Accountant- General into a fully paid-
LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 7
L.R.O. 1/2012

Act to cease to
apply to any
insurance of an
officer after
retirement
under certain
circumstances.
[2 of 1933
4 of 1972
19 of 1990]
When public
officer may
exercise option
of having
policy assigned
to him, or
having a fully
paid-up policy.
up policy in respect of the premiums
paid up to the date of his retirement
from the public service.
(2) The option must be declared in writing within
six months of the officer’s retirement from the public service,
and in default of the option being so declared, the public
officer shall be taken to have elected to have his policy
converted into a fully paid-up policy under paragraph (b) of
the last subsection, and the Accountant-General shall
forthwith take the necessary steps thereon.
10. (1) Where a public officer, whose life is insured
under this Act, has retired on pension from the public service
without children, his wife being alive at the date of his
retirement, if it shall at any time appear to the Minister on the
application in writing of the officer and his said wife that,
having regard to the circumstances of the officer and his wife,
it would be in their interests that this Act should cease to
apply to any insurance on the life of the officer, the Minister
may direct the Accountant-General to transfer to the officer
and his wife any policy of insurance on his life and to pay
over to them the proceeds of any such policy and any increase
thereon.
(2) In this section the expression “children” means
children who are under eighteen years of age.
11. (l) Any public officer whose life is insured under
this Act and who is promoted from the public service of
Guyana to any other employment in the public service of any
other Commonwealth country, or who retires from the public
service of Guyana without a pension, or who ceases from any
other cause whatsoever (except as in the last preceding
section provided) to be a public officer in Guyana, shall have
the option—
(a) of having his policy transferred to
LAWS OF GUYANA
8 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012

Receipt and
application of
policy moneys.
[2 of 1933]
him by the Accountant-General or
any other person nominated by him,
freed from all liability or restrictions
imposed by this Act; or
(b) of having the policy converted by the
Accountant- General into a fully paid-
up policy in respect of the premiums
paid up to the date of his retirement
from the service of Guyana.
(2) The option must be declared in writing within
six months of the officer’s retirement from the service of
Guyana, and in default of the option being declared as
aforesaid the public officer shall be taken to have elected to
have his policy converted into a fully paid-up policy under
paragraph (b) of the preceding subsection, and the
Accountant- General shall take the necessary steps thereon.
12. (1) The sum assured on the life of an officer under
this Act and any accumulations thereon by way of bonus or
otherwise shall, on the death of the officer, be received and
held by the Accountant-General, and anyone to whom it may
be paid under subsection (2), absolutely free and discharged
from any claim whatsoever of any creditor of the deceased
officer.
(2) All moneys received by the Accountant-
General under any policy of insurance on the life of a
deceased officer shall, after payment there out of any costs of
recovering the moneys, or of disposing thereof as hereinafter
mentioned, be paid by him or any agent appointed by him in
writing according as the Minister in his uncontrolled
discretion may think fit, either to the widow of the deceased
officer for the benefit of herself and of his children (if any), or
to the guardian of such children (if any) for their benefit, or to
such person as the Minister may in his uncontrolled
discretion select for the benefit of the widow and children or
LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 9
L.R.O. 1/2012

When officer is
unable to
insure his life.

Surplus
moneys after
payment of
premium to be
refunded to
officer.
Provision for
officers assured
the widow or children, as he may deem desirable; and, if the
deceased officer leaves no widow or child surviving him, the
moneys shall be paid to his personal representatives.
(3) The receipt of anyone to whom any moneys
aforesaid are paid by the Accountant-General or his agent
shall be an absolute discharge therefor, and neither the
Accountant-General nor the agent shall be bound to see to
the application thereof, or liable for the misapplication or
non-application thereof.
13. (1) If any public officer is unable to insure his life
as required by this Act, owing to his being unable at the time
of his appointment or promotion (as the case may be) to pass
the necessary medical examination, the monthly deductions
from his salary shall be deposited in the savings bank in the
name of the Accountant-General, as “insurance on the life
of..............................,” and the amount of deposits and the
accumulations thereon at compound interest shall be subject
in all respects to, and be treated and dealt with under this Act
as if they were the sum or sums assured by an assurance or
insurances effected under this Act.
(2) If a public officer dies before he has effected an
insurance under this Act, or dies before the date when the
premium on his insurance is due, the sums deducted from his
salary under section 7 and not applied in the payment of
premiums shall be dealt with as if they were the sum assured
by an insurance effected under this Act.
14. Any money remaining in the hands of the
Accountant-General from the sums deducted in any year
from the salary of an officer under this Act, after paying
thereout the premium on the insurance of the officer and the
cost, if any, of remittance thereof, shall be returned to the
officer at the end of the year.
15. (1) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this
LAWS OF GUYANA
10 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012
otherwise than
under this Act.

Vacation of
office through
failing to
insure.
Freedom of
Government
from liability.
Act, no public officer shall be obliged to insure his life under
this Act if and so long as—
(a) the Accountant-General is satisfied
that the officer’s life is insured for a
sum not less than that for which he
would be bound to insure under this
Act by some company, society, or
association, of which the Accountant-
General approves, and that the
insurance moneys have been or are
duly secured for the benefit of his
wife and children and protected from
his debts (if any); and
(b) the officer duly pays and exhibits to
the Accountant- General the receipt
for each premium as and when the
same becomes payable and is paid.
(2) If any officer not insured under this Act fails to
exhibit any such receipt as aforesaid, he shall forthwith be
obliged to insure his life under this Act.
16. If an officer who is obliged to effect an insurance
or an additional insurance on his life under this Act fails, for
any cause other than his inability to pass the necessary
medical examination, to effect the insurance within six
months after the obligation arises, his office shall, at the
expiration of that period, become vacant and he shall for all
purposes be deemed to have resigned his office.
17. Nothing in this Act contained and nothing done or
left undone by the Accountant-General shall impose any
liability on the Government:
Provided that this section shall not apply if the
Accountant- General fails or neglects to pay any premium
LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 11
L.R.O. 1/2012

Public officer
may insure for
a larger sum
than is required under
previous
sections of
Act.

This Act not to
apply to
persons on
unfixed
establishment.

required to be paid by him under this Act.
18. (1) If a public officer desires to effect an insurance
on his life under this Act for a larger sum than is required
under the preceding sections, the Accountant-General, on the
application in writing of that officer, may deduct a larger sum
from his annual salary than the sum required to be deducted
from his salary under section 7.
(2) The larger sum so to be deducted as aforesaid
shall be the sum specified by the officer in his application.
(3) The larger sum so deducted as aforesaid shall
be applied and dealt with in all respects as sums
deducted under section 7 are hereinbefore directed to be
applied and dealt with, and the policy of insurance on the life
of the public officer and any moneys payable under it shall be
dealt with and applied in the manner hereinbefore provided,
and that insurance shall be deemed to be in all respects an
insurance effected under this Act.
(4) No public officer who insures his life under this
section shall be liable to effect an additional insurance on his
life under section 4 on promotion to any other office, if the
sum deducted from his salary under this section is not less
than four per cent of the annual salary of the office to which
he is promoted, or, if the salary of that office be one increasing
by regular increments, not less than four per cent of the
maximum salary he will attain by length of service.
(5) The Minister may refuse to allow any public
officer to insure his life under this section.
19. From and after the 18th May, 1925, this Act shall
not apply to anyone in the public service of Guyana on the
unfixed establishment who has not effected insurance under
this Act.

LAWS OF GUYANA
12 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012
Officers on
unfixed
establishment
not to effect
insurance.
c. 27:08
When
unmarried
public officer
may have
policy
transferred to
him.
[19 of 1990]

Divorced
officer to be
considered
unmarried.
20. Any officer in the public service of Guyana on the
unfixed establishment who was, subsequent to the
commencement of the Widows and Orphans Pension Act,
required to effect and did not effect insurance under and in
accordance with this Act shall not do so.

21. (1) Any public officer whose life is insured under
this Act and who retires from the public service on a pension,
at the time of retirement or any later time being unmarried
and having no children, shall be entitled to have his policy
transferred by the Accountant- General to him or to anyone
nominated by him, free from all liability or restrictions
imposed by this Act.
(2) Application for a transfer of his policy shall be
made in writing by a public officer within six months of his
becoming entitled to do so, or from the 12th January, 1928, in
the case of an officer who, having retired on pension before
that date is at that time unmarried and has no children.
(3) For the purposes of this section the term
“children” means children who are under eighteen years of
age.
(4) An officer who has divorced his wife or against
whom a decree of divorce has been obtained by his wife in a
court of competent jurisdiction within the Commonwealth
shall be considered for the purposes of this section to be
unmarried.
(5) Where an officer, having no children, has been
separated from his wife either by a decree of judicial
separation or by a deed of separation, the Minister may,
having regard to the grounds of the separation and the
subsequent conduct of both parties, authorise the transfer to
that officer of his policy of insurance upon his retirement on
pension as if he were unmarried.

LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 13
L.R.O. 1/2012
Act not to
apply to female
public officers.

c. 38:01
22. (1) From and after the 23rd October, 1920, this Act
shall not apply to female public officers.
(2) From the commencement of the Equal Rights
Act no male public officer who is not already insured under
this Act will be required to be insured under this Act.
_________________

LAWS OF GUYANA
14 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
L.R.O. 1/2012
R. 31/3/1934
2/8/1934

Citation.
Officers may
select
Company, etc.
Type of policy.

Policy must be
convertible.
Bonuses to
accumulate
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
_________________
PUBLIC OFFICERS (INSURANCE) RULES
made under section 5
1. These Rules may be cited as the Public Officers
(Insurance) Rules.
2. Officers may, subject to the approval of the
Minister, select the Company, Society or Association in which
they wish to be insured.
3. No policy of insurance other than whole of life
policies will be accepted unless the policy is taken out for an
amount not less than the amount for which the officer could
obtain a whole of life policy for a premium equal to 4 per cent
of his salary. In the event of an endowment policy being
submitted to and accepted by the Minister the officer will be
required to sign an agreement in the form contained in the
Schedule.
4. Every policy must contain a provision that at any
time, at the request of the person in whom it is vested, it may
be converted into a fully paid up policy in respect of the
premiums paid up to the time of such request, in accordance
with the rule as to such conversion of the said Company,
Society or Association.
5. No officer shall have the right to draw any bonus
declared, or use it in reduction of premiums; such bonuses

LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 15
[Subsidiary] Public Officers (Insurance) Rules

L.R.O. 1/2012
until policy
matures.

Officer allowed
to substitute
policies for
assigned
policy.
shall in every case be allowed to augment the policy and
become payable, together with the capital sum, at the
maturity of the policy:
Provided, however, that any rebate on premiums
allowed for residence in a lower rated climate may be used by
the officer in payment of his premiums.
6. An officer who has assigned to the Accountant
General an endowment policy of insurance may be allowed to
substitute thereof during the currency of such policy and at
any time before he has ceased to be a public officer of Guyana
either a whole life policy or an endowment policy due to
mature after he reaches the age of 60 years:
Provided that:
(a) where the policy assigned is due to
mature before the officer reaches the
age of 55 years the whole of life policy
or the new endowment policy shall be
for not less than the sum which four
per cent of his salary would have
purchased in a “whole of life” policy,
if such policy had been taken out on
the same date and instead of the
assigned endowment policy, together
with the bonus additions accrued and
accruing thereon;
(b) where the policy assigned is due to
mature after the officer reaches the
age of 55 years and before he reaches
the age of 60 years the new policy to
be substituted shall, in addition to the
condition in paragraph (a), have a
paid-up insurance value when the
officer reaches the age of 55 years
LAWS OF GUYANA
16 Cap. 27:10 Public Officers (Insurance)
[Subsidiary] Public Officers (Insurance) Rules

L.R.O. 1/2012

Form of
proposals.

r. 3
commensurate with the guaranteed or
estimated paid-up insurance value of
the assigned policy at the same age.
7. Proposals made under these Rules shall be made in
writing to the Accountant General and be disposed of by him
in pursuance of proposals, these Rules.
__________
SCHEDULE
AGREEMENT
Public Officers (Insurance) Act
(Endowment Policy)
In consideration of the Endowment Policy of Life
Assurance No dated the day of
20..., taken out by me in the for the sum of payable in years
and assigned by me to the Accountant General, being
accepted by the Minister as an insurance under and in
compliance with the requirements of the Public Officers
(Insurance) Act I hereby undertake that as soon as the moneys
payable under the above-mentioned policy become due and
payable, I will apply the whole of the moneys received by me
under the said policy in effecting a further insurance upon my
life for the benefit of my wife and children, or heir, either—
(i) by the purchase of a fully paid up policy of
assurance upon my life, to be applied as
directed by section 12 of the said Act; or
(ii) by the purchase of a survivorship annuity
payable to my wife or children, as the
Minister may approve, and, in addition in
either of the above cases, to re-insure my life
LAWS OF GUYANA
Public Officers (Insurance) Cap. 27:10 17
[Subsidiary] Public Officers (Insurance) Rules

L.R.O. 1/2012
for such sum as a premium equal to four per
cent upon the salary I am receiving at the
time the moneys receivable under the
above-mentioned policy are payable, will
secure; or
(iii) in the event of my being desirous of
receiving the money payable under the said
endowment policy, I undertake to reinsure
for the sum which four per cent of my salary
would have purchased in a "Whole of Life
Policy", if such policy had been taken out on
the same date and instead of the said
endowment policy, together with the bonus
additions during the endowment term:
Provided that if I fail to pass the necessary medical
examination for the new insurance in the case of either (i), (ii)
or (iii), or am unable to pay the higher premium consequent
upon my insurance in terms of (iii), I agree that the money
receivable under the above-mentioned endowment policy
shall be invested on my behalf in the Post Office Savings Bank
in the name of the Accountant General, or, in the name of the
Accountant General, in some security to be recommended by
me and approved by the Minister. This undertaking is to be
void in the event of my having ceased to be a public officer of
Guyana before the policy moneys under the first-mentioned
policy become due and payable.
Witnesses—
Dated this……………..day of…………. 20
____________________