Commentary on Sections and Schedules Part 2: Registration Service Section 69 Employment status of officials
247.Prior to the commencement of this Act, as statutory officers the 1,700 registrars and superintendent registrars in England and Wales had no legal employer and no recourse to employment tribunals.
248.This section provides for superintendent registrars, registrars and their respective deputies appointed under the Registration Service Act 1953 to become employees of the local authority that appointed them. It also provides for existing terms and conditions and pension rights to remain unaffected by the change of status and gives continuity of service for unfair dismissal and redundancy purposes. Existing responsibilities under the Registration Acts are unaffected.
249.Subsections (3) and (4) respectively provide for the retention of existing terms and conditions and the transfer of liabilities when these office holders transfer to local authority employment.
250.Subsection (5) provides that a person who was an office holder or a local authority employee for a period before the date of transfer should be regarded as having been in continuous employment.
251.Subsection (6) provides that where an office holder was a member of a specified pension scheme he continues to belong to that scheme when he becomes a local authority employee.