664.This section makes provision in relation to members of the Tribunal, provides for the appointment of a President and a Deputy President for each part of the United Kingdom and gives the President power to make directions and decide the appropriate composition of appeal tribunals.
665.Subsection (1) inserts the word “allowances” into sub-paragraph (2) of paragraph 2 of the Schedule to the 1943 Act to make it clear that expenses as well as remuneration may be paid to Tribunal members.
666.Subsection (2) enables appropriate terms of appointment to be specified for each category of Tribunal member.
667.Subsection (3) inserts paragraph 2A into the Schedule, to provide for the qualifications that tribunal members should hold. The legal and medical provisions do not differ from the current requirements but the qualifications required by other members have been both simplified and extended. The service requirement is less specific in that the tribunal member need not be of the same gender and similar rank with similar service history. Instead, the Lord Chancellor will have a duty to appoint persons with knowledge or experience of service life to the pool of tribunal members and, in addition, the power also to appoint suitably experienced lay members to the tribunal pool. The President should take account of their experience in deciding who should sit on tribunals hearing different types of cases.
668.This subsection also inserts paragraph 2B, which provides for the appointment of the President and a Deputy President for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This section addresses who will appoint the President, the qualification required and who carries out the duties when the President is temporarily indisposed.
669.Subsection (4) replaces paragraph 3 of the Schedule to the 1943 Act with new paragraphs 3 to 3C. Paragraph 3 provides that the members of the Tribunal must always have a legally qualified member, and that the chairman must be a legally qualified member. Paragraph 3A provides powers for the President to give directions as to the composition of the tribunals in relation to particular appeals, types of appeal or appeals generally. Paragraph 3B provides the power for the President to give directions as to the practice and procedure of the Tribunals. Paragraph 3C provides powers for the Lord Chancellor etc. to exercise the power under paragraphs 3A and 3B if there is no President or Deputy President in post. There is also a power to revoke past directions.
670.Subsection (5) provides for full time members of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals to be included in Schedule 11 to the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 which bars them from legal practice.
Part II: Pensions. Commentary on Sections Section 60: Constitution and procedure of Pensions Appeal Tribunals