Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Act 2010

Savings Accounts and Health in Pregnancy Grant Act 2010

2010 CHAPTER 36

Commentary

Section 2: Repeal of Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009

26. Section 2 of the Act repeals the legislation that provides for Saving Gateway accounts.

27. Subsection (1) of section 2 repeals the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009, which received Royal Assent on 2 July 2009. This Act set out conditions of eligibility for the Saving Gateway and imposed duties on HMRC to issue notices to people who are eligible for the Saving Gateway, and to pay any government contribution due under the scheme. The Act also included additional provisions covering such matters as tax relief, the use of information, a requirement for review of the effect of the Saving Gateway, penalties, and arrangements for appeals against decisions taken by HMRC.

28. This Act also conferred regulation-making powers on HM Treasury.  The Saving Gateway Accounts Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2997) and the Saving Gateway Accounts (No.2) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/2998) were made under these powers.  These Regulations have not been brought into force.

29. The only parts of the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009 that have been brought into force are:

• Sections 4(1) and 5(1) – concerning formal approval of Saving Gateway account providers. Despite being brought into force from January 2010, these provisions have not been used. No applications for approval as a Saving Gateway account provider have been approved or rejected by HMRC under powers granted by these sections.

• Section 18 – concerning the Disclosure of Information by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Social Development (DSD) in Northern Ireland. This provision was used by HMRC as the basis for pre-launch testing of data and information processes with DWP and DSD.

• Section 23(1)(a) and sections 24 and 25 in so far as those sections concern appeals in relation to the formal approval (or non-approval) of Saving Gateway account providers. Despite being brought into force from January 2010, these provisions have not been used. No applications for approval as a Saving Gateway account provider have been approved or rejected by HMRC. Therefore no appeal against an HMRC decision could have taken place under these sections.

30. Subsections (2) and (3) remove the effect of section 18 of the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009 on the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992.  Section 18 enabled information held by DWP and DSD to be supplied to HMRC for the purposes of the Saving Gateway.  The supply of this information was necessary for the operation of the Saving Gateway, as eligibility for an account was to be conferred on people entitled to certain social security benefits administered by DWP and DSD.

31. Subsection (4) anticipates what would have been the effect of section 27 of the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009 on the Northern Ireland Act 1998.  Section 27 would have inserted a reference to Saving Gateway accounts into Schedule 2 to the 1998 Act, making this an excepted matter for the purposes of the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland, and therefore outside the competence of the Northern Ireland Assembly.  This subsection will ensure that no reference to Saving Gateway will be inserted in the 1998 Act.

32. Subsection (5) removes a reference to the Saving Gateway from the Corporation Tax Act 2010.   Paragraph 705 of Schedule 1 to this Act had amended section 9(2) of the Saving Gateway Accounts Act 2009 (concerning Saving Gateway account statements) to replace the reference to the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 with a reference to the Corporation Tax Act 2010.  As the Saving Gateway is not proceeding, this update to the Act is no longer required.