General provisionsN.I.
12.—(1) The Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit, make one or more payments on account of the compensation payable but, subject to that, compensation shall be a lump sum.
(2) Where on an application under this Order the Secretary of State pays compensation to any person, the Secretary of State shall also pay to that person in respect of the costs and expenses incurred by him in making out and verifying his claim to that compensation such sum as is reasonable having regard to the circumstances and references to compensation in paragraph (1) and the succeeding provisions of this Article and in Articles 16 and 17 shall be construed as including references to any such sum.
(3) Where—
(a)the Secretary of State receives notice of any assignment, or of any act or event at law, other than a mortgage within the meaning of Article 14, affecting compensation payable by the Secretary of State;
(b)the person entitled to compensation is a minor or is out of the United Kingdom; or
(c)the address of a person so entitled cannot be ascertained without undue expense or delay;
the Secretary of State may, in accordance with county court rules, pay such compensation into such county court as appears to be appropriate; and that payment into court shall to the extent thereof be a sufficient discharge to the Secretary of State and shall, subject to any county court rules regarding monies paid into court under section 63 of the Trustee Act (Northern Ireland) 1958 [1958 c.23] , be dealt with in accordance with the orders of that county court.
(4) Without prejudice to paragraph (2) or to Article 14, where the loss to which an application under this Order relates has been suffered by more than one person, payment of compensation may be subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may determine with respect to the payment or apportionment of compensation.
(5) Where, but for Article 10(3), compensation would be payable to or for the benefit of any person, the Secretary of State may, if he considers it to be in the public interest to do so, pay to him such sum as does not exceed the amount of that compensation.