Railways Act 1993

141 Financial assistance for employees seeking to acquire franchises or parts of the Board’s undertaking etc

(1) If it appears to the Board that any persons employed by the Board, or by any subsidiary of the Board, are taking steps towards—

(a) the submission of such a tender as is mentioned in section 26 above, or

(b) the making of an offer for any part of the Board’s undertaking or for any shares of any subsidiary of the Board,

the Board may provide financial assistance to those persons for the purpose of defraying, in whole or in part, any expenses incurred or to be incurred by them for the purposes of the submission of the tender or the making of the offer.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the expression, “steps” includes, for the purposes of subsection (1) above, the formation of, or the acquisition of interests in, a company (in this subsection referred to as an “employees' company”); and accordingly—

(a) any reference in that subsection to the submission of a tender or to the making of an offer includes a reference to the submission of a tender or, as the case may be, to the making of an offer by an employees' company; and

(b) the reference to expenses incurred or to be incurred by those persons includes a reference to expenses incurred or to be incurred by an employees' company.

(3) The Secretary of State may give the Board directions with respect to the provision of financial assistance under this section.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (3) above, any such direction may, in particular—

(a) specify a limit on the total amount of the financial assistance which may be provided under this section or on the amount, or the total amount, which may be so provided—

(i) in cases of any particular class or description specified in the direction; or

(ii) during any period or periods so specified; or

(b) require the provision of any such financial assistance by the Board to be subject to conditions, including conditions as to repayment.

(5) Expressions used in this section and in Part I or II above have the same meaning in this section as they have in that Part.