44B.— (1) Where, on application by the Official Assignee or the trustee in bankruptcy, the Court is satisfied that the bankrupt, or a person on his or her behalf, has within the 3 years prior to the adjudication made contributions to a relevant pension arrangement under which the bankrupt is, or may become entitled to, payments and which contributions—

(a) were excessive in view of the bankrupt’s financial circumstances when those contributions were made, and

(b) had the effect of—

(i) materially contributing to the bankrupt’s inability to pay his or her debts, or

(ii) substantially reducing the sum available for distribution to the creditors,

the Court may make such order in relation to the relevant pension arrangement as it considers appropriate for the purpose of ensuring that the contributions which the Court considers to be excessive or any part of such contributions can be vested in the Official Assignee or the trustee in bankruptcy to be made available for distribution to the creditors.

(2) In considering an application under subsection (1) and in determining whether or not the contributions made by the bankrupt to a relevant pension arrangement were excessive the Court may have regard to all the financial circumstances of the bankrupt and in particular:

(a) whether the bankrupt made payments to his or her creditors in respect of debts due to those creditors on a timely basis at or about the time when the bankrupt made the contribution concerned;

(b) whether the bankrupt was obliged to make contributions of the amount or percentage of income as the payments actually made under his or her terms and conditions of employment and if so obliged, whether the bankrupt or a person who as respects the bankrupt is a relative could have materially influenced the creation of such obligation;

(c) the amount of the contributions paid, including the percentage of total income of the bankrupt in each tax year concerned which such contributions represent;

(d) the amount of the contributions paid, in each of the 6 years prior to the making of the adjudication including the percentage of total income of the bankrupt which such contributions represent in each of those years;

(e) the age of the bankrupt at the relevant times;

(f) the percentage limits which applied to the bankrupt in relation to relief from income tax for the purposes of making contributions to a relevant pension arrangement in each of the 6 years prior to the adjudication; and

(g) the extent of provision made by the bankrupt in relation to any relevant pension arrangement prior to the making of the contributions concerned.

(3) In this section “relative” as respects a person, means a brother, sister, parent, spouse or civil partner of the person or a child of the person or of the spouse or civil partner.]