Consolidated Fund Act

A Consolidated Fund Act is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to allow, like an Appropriation Act, the Treasury to issue funds out of the Consolidated Fund.

The typical structure of such an act begins with the long title, which defines which financial years the act applies to. This is followed by a preamble and then the enacting clause:

Until 2000 an older form of preamble was used:

If, as most of the acts do, the legislation covers two fiscal years the legislation's first two sections will contain the amounts to be paid out of the Consolidated Fund for each particular financial year. The third section of the act defines its short title. Typically two or three consolidated fund acts are passed each calendar year.

A Consolidated Fund Act normally becomes spent on the conclusion of the financial year to which it relates. However, the Consolidated Fund Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 98) is still in force, since it combined the consolidated funds of Great Britain and Ireland into one consolidated fund of the United Kingdom.

Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Acts
The Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Acts 1873 and 1883 was the collective title of the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 57) and the Consolidated Fund (Permanent Charges Redemption) Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c. 1).

Northern Ireland
The Consolidated Fund Measure (Northern Ireland) 1974 (c. 1 (NI)) was a measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly. See further section 5(1) of the Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1974 (SI 1974/1266) (NI 1).