199.Paragraphs 18 and 19 amend the PSA to provide for decisions to be made by the Inland Revenue rather than by DSS; and provide for a pensions equivalent to the new section 117A SSAA 1992 material on court proceedings.
200.Specifically, paragraph 18(2) removes section 167(3) of the PSA which confers powers to make regulations in connection with the decision making process. This will be unnecessary once Section 170 of the PSA as amended by section 16(2) of the Act is in force.
201.Paragraph 20 inserts new section 171A into the Pension Schemes Act to require the Inland Revenue to produce a report setting out the standards achieved by their officers in the making of decisions on contracted-out matters against which a right of appeal lies to a DSS unified appeal tribunal. Subsection (2) allows the report to be included in an annual report prepared by the Inland Revenue or annexed to the equivalent report produced by the Secretary of State under section 81 PSA. Subsection (3) requires that the report is laid before Parliament.
Commentary on Sections Pensions Schemes Act 1993 (PSA)