642.This section provides the scope for the Secretary of State to give further appeal rights to war pensioners.
643.Subsection (1) inserts a new section 5A into the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Act 1943. Section 5A provides for new appeal rights in areas where they do not currently exist.
644.New section 5A(1) provides that where a “specified decision” (defined in new section 5A(2) below) is made in connection with a claim made under sections 1, 2 or 3 of the 1943 Act, the claimant will be notified of the decision and that decision will carry a right of appeal to the PAT. Section 1 refers to members of the naval, military or air forces, section 2 refers to mercantile mariners, pilots etc, and section 3 refers to civil defence volunteers and certain civilians.
645.Sections 4 and 5 of the 1943 Act (which provide appeal rights where an award is withheld or reduced on grounds of serious negligence or misconduct, and against interim and final assessments) have been excluded, as no additional appeal rights are required in these areas.
646.New section 5A(2) defines a “specified decision” as one that is specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State. It is to be a different type of decision to that already envisaged in the current sections 1 to 5 of the 1943 Act.
647.New section 5A(3) provides that the regulations specifying the decisions will be affirmative, that is, subject to the approval of both Houses of Parliament.
648.Subsection (2) of section 57 provides for the appellant or the Secretary of State to progress the appeal, with leave of the tribunal or the nominated Judge, to the High Court if the party bringing the appeal believes the decision of the tribunal to have been erroneous in point of law. This provision already applies to appeals made under sections 1 to 4 (entitlement appeals) of the 1943 Act and will apply to a section 5A appeal.
649.Subsection (3) provides that the tribunal’s decision on section 5A appeals is capable of being set aside on a joint application of the parties, in certain circumstances. The original appeal will be heard again by the tribunal. This provision already applies to appeals made under sections 1 to 4 (entitlement appeals) of the 1943 Act.
650.Subsection (4) repeals section 1(2) of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Act 1949 that amended the 1943 Act by prohibiting appeals about pension matters due to service before 3rd September 1939. This will provide appeal rights for groups such as those who served in the inter-war years.
651.This section amends the current provision and provides for a uniform time limit of 6 months in all areas, other than interim assessments, which retain their present 3-month time limit. The effect is to reduce the time limit in some areas and to introduce a time limit in others. This section also provides for transitional protection for decisions made before the new provision is commenced.
652.Subsection (1) section 8(1) of the 1943 Act so that appeals against interim assessments remain subject to a 3-month time limit but in all other cases, including the “new” section 5A appeals, there will be a uniform 6-month appeal time limit from the date the decision or assessment is notified.
653.Subsection (2) inserts three subsections after section 8(3) of the 1943 Act.
654.New section 8(4) enables the Secretary of State to make regulations revising the new appeal time limits of 6 or 3 months for submitting an appeal, either up or down. At present there are no plans to use this provision.
655.New section 8(5) enables the Secretary of State to prescribe in regulations when a PAT can admit a late appeal. In any event, the ability of the PAT to hear a late appeal is not available for those appeals made more than 12 months after the expiry of the statutory appeal time limit (3 or 6 months as appropriate). The current provision which allows late appeals if there was a reasonable excuse for the delay is repealed.
656.New section 8(6) provides that the regulations in either subsection (4) or (5) will be subject to the approval of both Houses of Parliament.
657.The provisions in subsection (2) (the new section 8(4), 8(5) and 8(6)) will apply to all decisions and assessments from the day of commencement regardless of when the decision or assessment was made.
658.Subsection (3) provides that the new appeal time limits in subsection (1) of this section will not apply to entitlement decisions under sections 1 to 4 of the 1943 Act, nor to final assessments under section 5(2) made before the day of commencement. Paragraph (a) refers to entitlement decisions and paragraph (b) to final assessments.
659.Subsection (4) amends section 8(1) of the 1943 Act to provide that people who have been notified of a pre-commencement entitlement decision as set out in subsection (3)(a) of this section will have 12 months from the commencement date of section 57(1) of this Act in which to bring an appeal.
660.Subsection (5) provides that the time within which an appeal may be brought under section 6(1) of the War Pensions Act 1921 (First World War claims) will be amended from 12 months to 6 months, to ensure parity with the other time limit provisions.
661.Subsection (6) provides that the amendment to section 6(1) of the War Pensions Act 1921 does not apply to decisions made before subsection (5) comes into force.
662.This section inserts a new section 5B in the 1943 Act. Section 5B will provide clarification of the jurisdiction of the tribunal. The provision is similar to that in section 12(8) of the Social Security Act 1998.
663.New section 5B(a) states that it is not necessary for the tribunal to consider issues that have not been raised by the appellant or the Secretary of State in relation to the appeal. 5B(b) requires the tribunal to take no account of circumstances that did not exist when the decision, that is the subject of the appeal, was made.
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.
671.This section enables the Secretary of State to appoint fewer than twelve, but at least one, chairmen of a War Pensions Committee to the Central Advisory Committee on War Pensions. The Secretary of State intends to use this provision to ensure that there is a suitable balance in the number of chairmen appointed to the CAC.