88.— (1) Where, as respects a debtor who has entered into a Debt Settlement Arrangement which is in force, a creditor or the personal insolvency practitioner concerned considers that a debtor has made excessive contributions to a relevant pension arrangement, the creditor or personal insolvency practitioner may make an application to the appropriate court for relief in accordance with this section.

(2) The reference to the debtor having made contributions to a relevant pension arrangement shall be construed as a reference to contributions made by the debtor at any time within 3 years prior to the making of the application for a protective certificate on behalf of the debtor under section 59.

(3) Where the appropriate court considers that having regard in particular to the matters referred to in subsection (4) the contributions to a relevant pension arrangement were excessive it may:

(a) direct that such part of the contribution concerned (less any tax required to be deducted) be paid by the person administering the relevant pension arrangement to the personal insolvency practitioner for distribution amongst the creditors of the debtor, and

(b) make such other order as the court deems appropriate, including an order as to the costs of the application.

(4) The matters referred to in subsection (3) as respects the contributions made by the debtor to a relevant pension arrangement are:

(a) whether the debtor 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 debtor made the contribution concerned;

(b) whether the debtor 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 debtor or a person who as respects the debtor is a connected person could have materially influenced the creation of such obligation;

(c) the amount of the contributions paid, including the percentage of total income of the debtor 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 application for a protective certificate on behalf of the debtor under section 59 including the percentage of total income of the debtor concerned which such contributions represent in each of those years;

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

(f) the percentage limits which applied to the debtor 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 making of the application for a protective certificate on behalf of the debtor under section 59; and

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